Cheescake Strawberries

Hey guys I am back today with a delicious treat for you.

Cheesecake Strawberries! YUMMY!!!

So I took some strawberries, cleaned them in my Shaklee H2 yep the same stuff I have been blogging about is so safe I clean my produce with it.

  

Then I hollowed out the inside of my strawberries so they looked like this...

Get as much of the inside out as you can but be careful not to cut the strawberry too thin. 

Then in a bowl I whipped 1 package of cream cheese (softened at room temp)

1/2 cup of powdered sugar and a tsp of vanilla together till creamy. 

 I then spooned it into a bag and cut the tip off the end and thats how I piped it into the strawberries. Yes very high tech I know! 

Anyway I ended up with strawberries that looked like this

OK So then I put 2 gram crackers in a baggie and crushed them. 

Then take your stuffed strawberries and dip them in the crackers. 

For the chocolate I used Velata Chocolate, its nice and smooth and gluten free for those of you that need that.

I just warmed mine in the microwave and drizzled it over the strawberries and there ya go Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries.

So Simple, so good but probably not very good for you. But we all need a treat like that once in a while!

We did a date in night after the kids go to bed. It was a nice special treat for just me and the hubs.

Have a great day!

Get them out!!

Hey guys so did you know the following?

I hate everything about most store bought cleaners! I hate their smell, and that I can't use them around my kids! Something that is supposed to clean my house shouldn't be harmful to my family.

I use Shaklee I have blogged about it here, here and here,and here . just to name a couple of times!  Can you tell I love these products! I do! You should too! They are so much better for your family to be around, my kids use these products, I let them clean with me.

These are just my opinions and the posts are just my experiences but I think the results speak for themselves!

Have a great day!

Eastiest Pinterest project EVER!!!

Hey guys are you ready for seriously the easiest Pinterest project ever? Seriously!!

OK are you ready for all these instructions?

Take a photo frame (mine was a cheapo one from Wal Mart) ...

 Cut a piece of notebook paper to size of frame...

Put it in the frame, you are done!

 You now just made a dry erase board for anywhere you need one and it looks better than those blah white ones!

Have a great day!

DIY Chalkboard calendar

Hey guys! How's your week going so far? 

Well I saw a picture on Pinterest when I clicked on the pic it was from Our fifth house (a great blog I love!) of this whole wall done in a calendar by chalk board paint and new I had to do it in my house! So off I went to Menards to get my supplies.

I used the following supplies:
Tape measure
painters tape
chalk board paint
cricut
cardstock paper
paint brush or roller
Wall


First of all I want to say that this is how we did it, My inspiration blog may have done it completely different!

So first I picked my wall... Please forgive my no wall picture, I see something, start something and then about step 2 or 3 go oh crap I should have taken a picture of the beginning of this project for the blog!

Anyway like most projects I find them the hubby helps or does the project. His next step was to divide the wall off as to where we wanted the tape (this is the time consuming part) it took about 1-2 hours for this part.

Then he taped it off. I helped a little for this part but if your not doing the measuring and marking it is hard to do the taping with out them.

Then I painted the whole thing. Like I told you earlier I find it and want to do it right now, so all I had on hand was a paint brush, rolling this would have been a lot easier and less time consuming! None the less I did it and without complaining! LOL

My husband is a horrible picture taker as you can see!


So I painted the whole thing and then I cut out the letters for the days on my cricut. While I did that Gary put tape on the boxes for the letters. Then we taped the letters up just long enough for him to cut around it with an exact o knife.

I then painted the boxes and let them dry.

The whole calendar did take 2 coats of paint but luckily it dries really fast that it doesn't leave you sitting around for too long.

Once that is done take the tape off and ta da a calendar wall.

Please don't feel overwhelmed by this project!! It is time consuming but other than the measuring and marking it is really pretty easy!

And so far it has worked out really well! I put every thing on here, our schedules, meal plans, nanny's hours. I LOVE IT!!! Yes it takes up a whole wall but it has helped to keep us so organized and the communication is great! I was notorious for keeping my calendar but then it never got relayed to my husband or kids. So I was having to take care of everything. Now he can see whats going on that week and much more willing and able to help!

Hope you have a great day!

Arrr! Its a Pirate Party!

Hey guys hows it going? Been crazy around here!

Last weekend we had my sons birthday party, he turned the big 6! I can't believe my little boy is six!

So about a month ago I asked him what kind of party he wanted this year, his choice...Pirate party!

So off I go to google pirate parties and WOW is there a ton. What a great theme.

Here is a run down of his party.

The birthday boy complete it his own costume.

 Isn't he cute!!
They ate lunch I meant to take a picture of the food we had but got caught up doing something else, so I will have to just tell you. We had shipwreck dogs (hot dogs), Sea weed salad (fruit), Cannon balls (cheese puffs), Cheesy Sea Shells (mac & cheese). They loved it!

 And jello ships, and cupcakes.  Below are the jello ships.

And if your children are goofy like mine then do this with the orange while eating it.

 

She was the treasure hunt leader/clue reader so she thought she needed a costume too.

My table scape was pretty simple, I got the table cloth at Target, put my plastic silverware into small mason jars and bunched up balloons, on top of fish netting. Then we had to have the pirate flag flying too.

 For games we did 4. We made oceans in a bottle, I saved plastic water bottles and filled them about 1/3 the way full with vegetable oil. Then I filled a pitcher with water and added some blue food coloring. Poor that in to the bottle. I left about an inch from the top so you had room for the water to move around. Then I let the kids add confetti, those glass rocks for fish tanks we had blue and green, and then I found these rubber fish, I think they were actually fishing lures without the hooks in them and they put 1 of those in there too. 

Then they did a treasure hunt around the house, the plan was to do this outside but it was COLD in Wisconsin and I wasn't sending the kids out there. So we improvised and did it inside, they had a map and clues as to where to go next, to collect their gold loot.   

 

The treasure hunt let them to the X were they found TREASURE!!! 

Each child was then blind folded and had to find 5 gold coins, a necklace, a ring and a jewel! They thought that was awesome!

Pin the patch on the pirate, pretty much just a pirate version of pin the tale on the donkey but it was cute watching them laugh at each other and how the patch didn't make it on the eye!

 

They "Walked the Plank" this game was a hit!  Not really sure why but they loved it! They all went once and then again and again, they were closing their eyes and trying not to fall off the board. It was too funny!

 

 Each of the kids got a goodie bag to put their loot in. Their loot included, their ocean in a bottle, treasure hunt coins, necklace, ring and jewel, and then we had them all dressed the part when they arrived with pirate sashes, swords, eye patches, pirate hats and beards for the boys or grown men as my husband demonstrates here...

It was a great party and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun!

New years resolutions!

So how are you guys doing on your New Years resolutions? Have you started them yet?LOL  I say that because I have started some but haven't started or haven't been working hard at others. One of my resolutions was be to more organized. And hold my kids accountable for their messes. So I have been working really hard at this one and my other resolution has kind of still be left by the side of the road. Yep you guessed it, the blog has kind of been left by the side. Which is funny, because I actually really like blogging. I think its more of a fear of showing you...ME! Showing you guys the hot mess I and my life can sometimes be. So here is my vow to myself and blog world, I will try my hardest to get at least 3 blog post up a week! I am totally for you guys leaving me messages if I fail at this too! It will help to hold me accountable. Please tell me what you want to see here too.

I hope you all are having a great week so far!

Stephanie

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone!! How was the beginning of 2013 for you? Do you do resolutions? How are they going?

Our new year was pretty uneventful if you don't count one of my boys locking up my iphone and calling 911! LOL Oh good thing they are cute and only 3 & 5!

Here is to a happy, healthy and prosperous new year for you! I hope 2013 bring you all you are looking for.

Stephanie

We got a dog

Hey guys! Yep the title of this post pretty much sums it up, WE GOT A DOG! Well actually we are on the foster to adopt program through our human society. But here is our foster baby

Isn't he cute? He really is a good boy except for 1 little thing...he is a chewer!! He has chewed up everything he comes in contact with. Pillows, stuffed animals, toys, blankets, EVERYTHING!! I really don't want to take him back to the human society but what do I do? I can't just keep replacing the kids stuff and ours. Luckily he hasn't tried to chew my shoes (I might not be so nice if he did!)

If anyone has any ideas on this PLEASE let me know!!

On an up note it is getting the kids to realize they need to put their toys and stuff away! And to eat at the table not on the floor watching TV!!

But please HELP!

Shaklee Webinar 11-6-12

Another Webinar, another opportunity to learn why I love this company!!

Tonight at 9pm central time we are having a webinar for you to learn more about Shaklee! This is a great webinar and you will learn a lot.

Register here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/693637398

I learn so much every time I watch it!

It is a great company with great earning potential and you can do it all from your home! No worries about leaving your kids or missing their events. You work Shaklee around your schedule! Believe me if I can, you can!

Contact me if you have any questions.

Shaklee Webinar

Another Webinar, another opportunity to learn why I love this company!!

Tonight at 9pm central time we are having a webinar for you to learn more about Shaklee! This is a great webinar and you will learn a lot.

Register here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/693637398

 I learn so much every time I watch it! 

It is a great company with great earning potential and you can do it all from your home! No worries about leaving your kids or missing their events. You work Shaklee around your schedule! Believe me if I can, you can! 

Contact me if you have any questions.

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!

Hey everyone! So we carved pumpkins last night. Well actually I carved 3 and my hubby spent the entire night carving his own! LOL

But in any event this is more of just a here is how they turned out post not a how to post. I forgot to take pics first of all and I am by no means a carving master as you will see, so I have no business telling you how to do it!

But anyway my oldest wanted a witch and we printed out the template from www.marthastewart.com and then she just taped it on the pumpkins and traced it out. Then I cut it for her. The boys both wanted their initials. We drew those on the pumpkins free hand and then I cut those out too.

So this is how Isabel's and the boy's turned out

And then we had the perfectionist of a hubby's. He seriously spent forever on this! But it did come out awesome!!

Can you tell he is a deer hunter? And the deer kind of looks spooky so it is very halloweenish!!

Do you carve pumpkins? Have you done it yet this year?

Sorry this was so late today but hope you had a great Wednesday!!

No more Bullies!

Hey everyone!! How are ya? I am great, no real reason other than I just am happy today! Well today is my daddies birthday!! But other than that its just a good Tuesday!!.

So by now any of you have seen or heard about this lady...

If not this is Jennifer Livingston. She is my most favorite morning news lady! I love to wake up and turn on the TV and watch her and her co anchor Bill Graul, in the morning. They just make it fun! 

But if you don't already know she is not in the news lately for her Emmy winning anchoring abilities (which are awesome) but for her taking a stand against a bully email she received about her weight. An email that was sent to her work email. Nope not one word on how she did her job but on the fact that she is overweight! Now I understand that our country is overweight and obese. And I fully know that it is not a healthy lifestyle. People I market healthy, clean products so I KNOW!! But this bullying issue is near and dear to me and I thought it was awful for someone who does not know Jennifer personally to remind her of this fact. Like she said in her on air response to the email, "do you think I don't know this?" And for those of you out there saying well she is overweight, she is due to a thyroid problem that makes it hard for her to lose weight, she is also a triathlete, and a runner. She actually just did the Muddy Run in La Crosse this past weekend. How cool is that! 

We have already had our share of bullying with my daughter and she is only in the 5th grade. And sadly to say 1 of the instances was by a teacher! I was appalled at her (the teacher) behavior! I am by no means saying all or even most teachers are like this, I don't believe they are! But this one was. I say this to tell you to stand up for your children. We are their advocates and if we don't stand up for them no one else will!

If you would like to read more on Jennifer's story you can go HERE. She will also be on Ellen today!! It is pretty cool to me that she had the courage to stand up to her bully and that it is bringing this issue to the nation. Although most of us did know this is a problem its cool that a small town news anchor could bring more attention to it!!

She has received TONS and TONS of emails since about how amazing she is. I think it is sad that instead of lifting our kids we are pushing them to be skinny. I don't want my kids to be skinny I want them to be healthy! I love how Jennifer said it about listening to the bullies. "To all of the children out there who feel lost, who are struggling with your weight, with the color of your skin, your sexual preference, your disability, even the acne on your face, listen to me right now. do not let your self-worth be defined by bullies. Learn from my experience — that the cruel words of one are nothing compared to the shouts of many.”

So hold your kids close and teach them to stand up to the bullies. Teach them to stand up for others who may not be able to stand up for them selves. If we stand together against this bullying behavior I truly believe we can combat this epidemic that is currently plaguing our kids, and even adults. Lets work together to shut the bullies up!!

Have a great Tuesday!

Facebook Fans!!

Hey guys so I have to apologize my 31 days of post kind of got interrupted with Dr appointments and a 7 volleyball games in 1 night!! So I apologize but I am back!! Happy Monday to ya!! How are you? I am kind of tired today but hoping that is just a Monday!! 

So today I wanted say I am super excited that we are up to 50 fans on Facebook!!! I want to ask you to come on over and like our page. You can click HERE and it will take you right to us. Once I get to 100 fans I will do a give away!! So go quick right now and like us!! You might win!!!

See you all tomorrow!!

Under my sink

Hey guys I am back for day 2 of our 31 days of getting stuff done!

So today I am going to show you the inside of the cabinet under my sink... please don't judge but it was a bit of a catch all before.

As you can see I just had a foot tub of sorts that was holding everything. I had to take the entire thing out every time I wanted to find something. Talk about a mess and taking forever!!

So this weekend I went to town on organizing this spot.

I LOVE how it came out.

As you can see in the 1st picture I was really only utilizing 1 side of the cabinet. Now I have things separated out. On the left side I got a cheap basket from the Dollar Tree and put the supplies I really only use once in a while. We only use the bottle brush once in a while now because we got a dish washer and this girl is no longer washing all the dishes!!! I LOVE that too!!!! Then in the grey caddy that I picked up at Good Will I put the cleaning supplies that I use in every room. These are most of my Shaklee supplies. I have the spray bottle of all purpose cleaner, the spray bottle of window cleaner and the bottle of Basic H. Then you can see I do also have our dish washer detergent in this one too just cause the spot for it was perfect it just fits right in there and I don't have to worry about knocking something else over this bag is all that goes in that spot. Then there are just some misc little brushes for getting in those nooks and cranny's that a rag just won't do.

Then on the right side I have our garbage bags. The kitchen ones on top because we use those more often and then our big trash bags we put out to the curb. We don't pay for our trash pickup through our property taxes so we pay by the bag. Then in the little tote to the right of that I have all our batteries. This is just for ease of use. I know where all the batteries are and if someone says we don't have any C batteries in here I know there are just none in the house and I need to pick some up. I am not looking all over for where I might have stored them. Then we have some light bulbs on top which by the way we now keep in the basement. And then behind that we have the fire extinguisher. I have never had to use it but just in case I know right where it is and I don't have to fight with a bunch of crap to get it out.

So here is a side by side of the before and after.

Much better huh? I love that I can now find things and everything down there has a spot to be put back and not just being left on the counter until I can put it back. The kids and the hubs know right where it goes now.

Do you organize under your sink?

Have a great Tuesday!!

Stephanie

31 Days

Hi Everyone-

So we are marking today with the 1 day of a new series, we are linking up to the nester's site. Where she is having a linky party of other 31 days blogs. 

So what is our 31 days series going to be about you ask?? Well in short its going to be 31 posts!! If you are subscribed to this blog you have probably noticed that my posts are here and there. Some weeks we post all the time and other weeks well, yeah we don't. But it is I think lack of habit and lack of discipline frankly! So for the next 31 days you will see me every day! (I hope you are still here on day 31! :) ) If you are not a subscriber please subscribe now and follow along with us. But I have a goal this next month and its to get a LOT of stuff done around my house so hopefully that will give us a few great posts and the others we will fill in with what else has been going on in our crazy lives! 

So please come along on this ride with me!

The cleaner that just doesn't stop!!

Hey! Hope everyone is having an amazing week! Did you do anything exciting this week? I have felt like I was just running and running the past few weeks but this week was much better for me, I think I am finally getting into my school year groove! I love a schedule and so do my kids actually. We are all much happier knowing what is going on thru the week.

But that is for another post, today I have to tell you about my magic cleaner again! Yes the same stuff I told you about on my oven has been put to the test again and knocked out the mess too.

Last night I made dinner in the crock pot, and it was amazing! (again another post soon to come!) But do you guys get that burnt on mess on the bottom of your crock pot too? Please tell me you do! I am a very clean person and I don't want to be the only one!

But after I took out the inside of the pot to wash it, that mess was starring me in the face!

 

So I got out my Scour Off and went to work on in.

 

It took about 5 minutes before I was left with this...

Yep that's right I said 5!! To take it from this, to this!

I don't really know why I am so stunned when my Shaklee products work so great, maybe it because I have never found anything that does work so good! 5 Minutes and I was back playing games and having time with my family! Not cleaning up my mess from dinner, I am able to get other things done around the house when I don't have to take as much time doing the cleaning and my house is CLEAN not just wiped off but CLEAN!!

So I hope you have a great weekend and we will see you back here soon! Do you have plans for the weekend? We are going to the apple orchard and probably baking something with those apples!

Thanks for stopping! Have a great Friday!

Steph