6-18-10

8:30AM to 1:30PM

Went to garage sales this morning
and afternoon. Stopped in McDonald's
for lunch then Home Depot.
I got a roll of wood contact paper.
I figured I'd start with one roll
to see how I would like it.
I don't think their contact
paper at Home Depot looked as
detailed as the ones I've been looking
at on Ebay. Was gonna stop at Arbys
for a shake before we came home but
the kids blew that and are not too
happy with me at the moment.

I didn't get much from sales.
A purse with smaller matching
change purse for $1.00
and a Jeff Gordon car trailer
for Tony from the boys for
Father's Day $3.00.
2 fish coffee cups for father-in-law .50 cents both.
Found my step-dad a couple gag gifts for
around a buck.





___________________________________________________

2:15PM

I couldn't wait to try out the contact paper
on my cupboard to see what it would look like.
Like I said I only bought one roll to see how
it would turn out. I've been browsing
contact paper on Ebay but didn't want to buy
anything off there without first trying it out.
I don't think it turned out too bad. I'm
just sick of looking at white cupboards
and want something different. I still have
my eye on the cherry contact paper but wanted to see what a light
pine looked like first. It's always removable
and probably took me about 10 to 15 minutes
to carefully put on the door. If you've
ever done window tint it's almost like
putting that on. Gotta make sure there
are no air pockets.

I think I'm onto something with a cheap
kitchen makeover. I could also use this
on the dishwasher door if I wanted too!
To make this more permanent you could
use rubber cement to tack down the paper
behind the doors where it overlaps.

I'm sure you noticed I took off the wallpaper
decal off one of the cabinet drawers.
That was simple to get off as I remembered
a handy tip from HGTV. I used a spray bottle
of water with some fabric softener mixed in.
Sprayed it on, let it sit a couple minutes
and the wallpaper peeled right off.
Then I used my nails to get the adhesive
off, no problem at all!

For the base of the cabinets I will
just leave painted. Just do all the doors.
Now if I use cherry contact paper I might
paint them a darker color so they don't
stick out like a sore thumb.

Now compare this cheap fix to replacing
cabinets. I priced non stained cabinets
at Home Depot for about $50 to $200
depending up on the size of the cabinet.
Even then trying to find cabinets to fit
the space you have would be tricky!

Here's a good place to find a variety
of contact paper in different colors
and designs.
CONTACTPAPER.NET




4:00PM

I got the one side of the kitchen
cabinets done. I think it looks pretty
good. Still have about half a roll
of contact paper left to go towards the
other cupboards. I kinda like the white
background with the white knobs
on top of the light pine color.
These cabinets cost $3.50 to cover.




____________________________________________________




Got a totally cool find today thanks to Tony.
An XBox 360!! FREE!!
I told him I thought we ought to put it up
until Christmas time for the boys.
I have my gift card I can turn in for
controllers and games for it also for FREE.
A used XBox 360 goes for $140 to $180
at Gamestop. $150 to $230 at Microcenter.

___________________________________________________

6:30 to 7:45PM

I got 5 drawers and the dishwasher done with
contact paper.













___________________________________________________

8:00 to 9:00PM

Got the last of the bottom cupboards done.
It's a good thing because I ran out
of contact paper!
Those fake drawer fronts by the sink
were tricky to do because you couldn't
wrap the paper around the backside.
I had to use a razor blade to trim
around the sides.

6-17-10

So glad I was able to make it through
yesterday. Today I can feel more relaxed.
I don't think it will be so hot or humid
today so I might clean the carpets
and clean up any aftermath from yesterday.

We might do a little fishing this evening
after Tony gets home from work.
I need to restring my fishing poles.
When cleaning out my coat closet I
just so happened to of found some
30 pound fishing line. Your typical
fishing pole you buy from a store
has about a 6 pound line. I'm so tired
of my line breaking when reeling in a
whopper, lol. I have many stories about
the one that got away because of it!

Here's a different recipe for ya.
It's a dough ball bait for catfish or carp.

JELLO DOUGH BALLS FOR FISHING

1 sm. box peach or strawberry Jello
2 c. yellow cornmeal
1 c. flour
3 c. boiling water

In bowl mix flour and cornmeal. Bring water to boil. Add Jello. Slowly add the flour and cornmeal mixture. Turn down heat and stir while cooking for 5 minutes. Cool completely. Refrigerate in plastic bag. Great for catching carp and catfish!

OR

1 tbsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. sugar
1 small pkg. strawberry Jell-O
1 pint water
1 cup flour
2 cups cornmeal

Directions
Boil vanilla, sugar and Jell-O in one pint of water. While this is simmering, mix flour and corn meal. While the liquid is boiling, mix the dry ingredients in slowly. Stir for two minutes then remove from heat. Keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Pinch off enough to make a ball of bait as you fish.

OR

1 8oz box yellow corn muffin mix
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup oatmeal
3 Tablespoons waffle syrup

Mix in medium bowl with enough water to make sticky(1/4 cup) cook on low
heat 10 min. (stirring constently) let cool then rool into balls and put in refrigerator.
You should make these the night before you fish or else they are to soft

OR

4 to 5 cups of crushed corn flakes.
1/4 cup vanilla abstract
(I just copied and pasted
when looking for bait recipes. I saw abstract instead of
extract, LMAO, has to be a man's recipe, LOL!)
1 cup Big Red (or any strawberry soda)

Preparation:
Mix the crushed corn flakes and ingredients into a microwavable bowl and microwave for 6 minutes.
Let stand for 10 minutes.
Mix well and make into small balls.
Note: If mixture is not firm enough to remain on a treble hook, add more crushed corn flakes.

OR

Corn Flakes
water
cheese powder from Mac and Cheese mix
creamy peanut butter

Preparation:
Take the Corn Flakes and add water and smash it together with a fork.
Let it sit for 5 minutes than add the cheese powder and mix.
Then add the peanut butter and mix and mash very well.
Freeze it until you are ready to fish.

OR

* 1 Slice of White Bread
* 1 8oz Box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
* Cream Corn from a Can

Directions:
Tear the bread into small pieces. Add the Muffin mix and mix well. Add just a hint of cream corn. It's very important to understand a "hint". Add more of the cream corn until you have a thick dough. Might be a little sticky. Us in California have caught some 30+ Lb. Carp with this mixture.

___________________________________________________

1:30PM

Got the living room and most of the dining
room carpet cleaned. Still have the hallway
to do.

-----------------------

I've been sitting here looking through
vinyl contact paper to do the cupboards
with. I'm tired of looking of white cabinets!
I originally wanted cherry wood but don't
know if that would be too dark in our kitchen.

Would love to get the vinyl contact paper
to do the counters to look like granite.

I'm still liking the color of the cherry
and it would go good with the other
red colors in the living room
and the cherry dining table.

It would probably cost $100
to redo the cabinets and countertops
so I will at the moment just think about it.




____________________________________________________

3:50PM

Just finished making my homemade dough ball
for fishing this evening.

I mixed a pouch of
cornmeal muffin mix
1 small box strawberry jello
and
about 3/4 can of creamed corn
together and put in a quart zip bag.
I have it in the freezer until later.



___________________________________________________

Dollar Store Kitchen Makeover for $15.

Check out DOLLAR STORE CRAFTS

___________________________________________________

10:30PM

Back from fishing at Hoover about 9:30.
Fishing sucked but the weather was
nice and it was quiet.

Tony just got back from Speedway.
He had to go to two Speedways actually.
He said he went in our Speedway to get
some beer and while in line about
7-8 punks walked in the store and
the cashier and them were having
words and a screaming match. I guess
they were known to steal things from
this store. I guess it was a pretty
scary situation as Tony put the beer
down where he stood and walked out.
You see too many things on tv,
shootings and robberies to want to
stick around and see what happens.

I hear a tapping at our door and I thought
it was Tony coming back from the store.
It wasn't. It was the neighbor wanting
to know if I could babysit tomorrow.
Ya know asking me at 11:30PM last
night was bad enough but he's been
home since 7AM this morning and
has had all day to ask someone.
Why in the world would you try
to find someone to babysit again
at 10:30PM??? This is getting old
and yes I turned him down.
I do have plans for tomorrow.
Me, mom and the boys are going to
garage sales like we do every Friday.

OK well I am a little behind and still
need to make up my yard sale map
so we know where we are going tomorrow.

This Sunday we are heading up to the lake
to see Tony's step-dad for Father's Day.
Which reminds me I need to find something
tomorrow for my step-dad at a yard sale.
I already got Tony the Avatar DVD he's
been wanting so that's been taken care
of for the past month. I can't get ahead, lol.
I think I'm doing good but I always forget
something at the last minute.

6-16-10

Ok I was up and adam at 6:30AM
seeing Tony off to work by 7AM.
The guy across the street said
his kids would be coming over
at 7AM. So I have been sitting here
waiting for them since then.
It's now almost 9:30AM and they are
just now getting here.

Well I can see it now. So much for
all my cleaning I did yesterday.
With a house full of 5 kids
I'm sure it's going to get messed up!
I had considered steam cleaning carpets
yesterday and am so glad I didn't do it.

I drug up 2 huge totes out of the basement.
They are full of Barbie stuff.
I think I paid $20 for most of it at
a yard sale about 5 years ago.
The rest was freebie stuff I found at
Tony's work.

The dad said he was gonna leave me a key
but when his brother dropped the kids
off there was no key to get their
juice or other food from their house.
Now I have to figure out what to feed
these kids today.

Well it's official, it's not even 10AM
and my hard work from yesterday cleaning
has gone out the window!

I am such a nice person when people
get in a bind. Too nice.
Someone shoot me!

The cat just come around the corner
to see what all the commotion is about.
The look on her face was like, WTF??
The dog could care less. Many more
hands to pet her today.

I worked as a preschool teacher for
6 years! 6 years was a loooong time!
60 hour work weeks, no benefits, no paid
vacation, I used my own
vehicle to pick up school kids
and all for under $4 an hour.

Well I think I figured out what
everyone will have for lunch.
Ramen noodles and hot dogs.
Simple, cheap, quick and something kids like.





10:30AM

Brain storming as to what to have for
supper. I'm thinking about firing up
the bread machine to make some breadsticks.
Maybe stuffing them with something I just
don't know what yet. Gotta go and check
to see what's in the freezer first
to come up with some concotion.

11:30AM

Went outside to get a smoke.
Checked out the garden. I am amazed
at how fast things are growing in there.
I did see something I didn't like,
green catapillars on some plants
eating them. Well I got something
to take care of that. Too much time
and energy goes into a garden to have
bugs eat it!

Anyway here are my garden goodies I
found this morning.

Zucchinis, a bean plant and cucumbers
are blooming.
I've got these baby veggies starting to grow.
Tomatoes, banana peppers, hungarian peppers,
green peppers & beans.













12:00PM

Just shoot me because I have gone nuts.
Make that 6 kids in my house now.
Jonathan decided to invited a friend
inside to play video games.
It's pretty quiet though.
Is that a good thing or bad???
Now remember this house is about
930 square foot.

I remember an older lady, actually
the people who bought our Cadi,
telling me she raised either
6 or 8 kids in their home which
is just like ours.
I don't know how they did it
and kept sane in a small place.

I've got some bread in the bread
machine. I'm gonna try to make
meatball stuffed breadsticks with
cheese and sauce.
Well I should probably go and get
the meatballs started before
the bread gets done with it's first
rise.

2:10PM

I have survived 4 hours 40 minutes so far.
Still have 3 hours 20 minutes.
Getting tired by the minute.
Is it bed time yet???

3:00PM

I decided to take all 5 kids
across the street to the other
kids house to play in their
backyard in their playhouse.
While crossing the street a guy
on a bicycle rode by and asked
if they were all mine. I said,
I don't think so, only 2 of them are.


Ok only 1.5 hours left to go.
And who's to say that these kids
grandma will be here by then to
pick them up.

___________________________________________________

Why is it when someone describes a scent
of a product do they refer to it as flavors????
This bugs the crap outta me.
I have seen it in Krogers on a sign.
Laundry detergent on sale, only certain flavors.
Now I see an online add for incense-
three different flavor sticks.
HELLO PEOPLE, flavors are something you
taste, scents are different smells!!

____________________________________________________

8:30PM

The kids were picked up at 6PM.
While all three were good kids I had
a sigh of relief to see grandma walking
up the walk. I can relax now and take
back my house, lol.

This evening we decided to go to Blockbusters.
It's been a looong time since I've been there.
We had a couple coupons out of the Entertainment
book for rent 1 get 1 free movies and games.
This will probably be our last trip there
other than to return the movies and games.
$11 and some change to rent 2 movies
and 2 games. I'm bitching and I got
2 free rentals. Normal price would
have been $22 plus!! It's just not
worth the money if you ask me.
I can take everyone to the movie theater
for $6 and buy cheap games for $5
each at Gamestop. Heck at the moment
I'm almost up to a $75 FREE gift card
for Gamestop from doing surveys.
Hoping to get it up to $100 by Christmas
time. Plus I just checked the new release
movie we just rented for $5
for $5 to $7 NEW to OWN on Ebay.
It's a no wonder there are very few Blockbusters left!

___________________________________________________


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6-15-10

8AM

My dream car.
The car that inspired my love for Trans Ams.
Can you name the tv show this car is from???
There was also the Chevy Stepside from the
same show. I've owned both a blue stepside
and a Trans Am, lol.
You ALWAYS see bandits and K.I.T. cars
at the Trans Am car shows but NEVER
this car!!
It's taken me about 6 years to find
photos of this car!

I know it's only a dream because to find
a 1971 to 73 TA under $3,000 is like finding
a needle in a haystack!

The color is coppermine gold or rootbeer.







I have a big job ahead of me.
I have to figure out how to paint
one of these birds on the hood of the Trans Am!
Don't this look like fun with
all the little details???
It's either that or pay $269 for the
hood bird decal. A complete decal
kit costs $299!!





This is the type and color of bird
that used to be on our red Trans Am.
We had to remove it as it was causing
the hood to rust.

Actually the top, first bird is correct.
It has 5 feather tips compared to the
one below which only has 4.


TRANS AM COMMERCIALS














__________________________________________________

9-12:15PM

I've started cleaning the dining & living room
& coat closet which is a magnet to pack
full of crap! I can finally put
my carpet cleaners and vacuum in there!
Tired of them sitting in the hallway
and stubbing my toes on them!
When I get in one of my moods, cleaning
does not mean tidying up. It means
a total overhaul of moving everything,
dusting, vacuuming, carpet cleaning
and throwing crap away!
I'm gonna try to do it in little
strides so I don't get burnt out
from it. Then later on this week
if I feel up to it, I'll start on bedrooms
and the kitchen.

6:55PM

Sorry I have been on a retro kick. I get
like this every now and then.
I spent my day cleaning and listening
to 80's music.
Then for the past couple of hours I have
been watching my CHiPs dvds. I have
the whole series. It was a favorite
show of mine when I was about the boys
age. The get hooked on this show also
every time I play it.

___________________________________________________

11:30PM

Me and Tony were sitting outside waiting
for the storm to get here.
As we were getting ready to come back in
the neighbor caddy corner comes over
and wants to know if I would babysit his
THREE kids tomorrow. Uh hello, doesn't
anyone have a little respect to ask someone
ahead of time, and I don't me right before
they head off to bed???
I knew this would eventually happen since
our neighbor got another job.
He's an over the road truck driver
of all things. I just hope this doesn't
become an all time thing. I'll try to manage
this one time. One of his kids is about
kindergarten age, the next should be almost
ready to go to school and the third one
is 2.5 years old. Now add that to my 9 & 10
year old!! AHHH 7am to 5:30PM is gonna be
a long day for me tomorrow with 5 kids,
a dog and a cat of our own, along with his 2 dogs
and a cat that I probably should go
over and look after a couple times
throughout the day to go pee or what not.

Well the storm is rolling through.
Time to head to bed. I love listening
to thunder and rain when drifting off to sleep.

6-14-10

10AM

Took the kids to the library
to get some books and a movie.

Afterwards I picked up mom
and we went to Kroger.

MY FREEBIES AND DEALS.

Free DVD in the mail for the kids.

Free coupon for Poise Pads up to $4.00.

$4.01 pkg of chicken for $1.39

$4.46 pkg of chicken for $1.54

2 two liters of Dr. Pepper .50 cents each





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The other day while in Dollar Tree Jonathan
got a can of strawberries. Today I think I will
make homemade,

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

SERVES 4 , 1 Quart

Ingredients

* 8 ounces cream cheese
* 1/2 cup sugar (if using sugar or syrup packed frozen berries, omit the sugar in the recipe)
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 3/4 cup fresh pureed strawberry (if using sugar or syrup packed frozen berries, omit the sugar in the recipe)
* 1 cup half-and-half

TIPS:

If you don't have half-and-half.

Substitutions: Equal parts milk and cream
OR
1 cup half and half = 1 cup less 2 tablespoons milk plus 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

To cut down calories, fat & sugar:
Substitute low fat or fat free cream cheese,
splenda and light or fat free half and half.

You could also stir in crushed up graham
crackers.
Or even pour the ice cream into a
graham cracker pie crust.

Try cherries instead of strawberries
for a cherry cheesecake flavor.

Directions
1
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Chill ingredients for about 1 hour, or until cold.

2
Turn on ice cream machine and set it to chill the freezing/mixing bowl for 5 minutes.

3
Spoon the cooled mixture into the freezing/mixing bowl of machine. Set the freezing timer to the 30 minute maximum setting. Push start button.

4
When timer rings, spoon ice cream into dishes and enjoy.

___________________________________________________

Check out this web site I found called

ALTUSE

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Save money and heal the earth by extending the life of everything you already own.

Whether it’s using hairspray to remove ink stains, vodka to clean your eyeglasses, or coffee grounds to fertilize your garden, AltUse taps into the planet's collective wisdom so you can keep more in your wallet and send less to landfill!

___________________________________________________

3:00PM

I don't know why here in the last couple
of days I have felt soooo tired. Tony
has felt the same way also.
Do we need a vacation from a vacation?
All I know is I would like to get
sooo much done around here while
the kids are out of school and need
to find some energy to do it!

___________________________________________________

3:30PM

I get a knock on the door. It's
a guy going round selling steaks
and meat door to door.
He tries to sound sooo excited telling
me he can sell me steaks for $3.00
a piece! I tell the guy I cannot afford
any steaks.
Oh but they are this great price he
says, you can't beat it.
Then he says, when would be a good
time to come back?
I said look I can't even afford hamburger
so probably never.
He took a hint and finally walked away, LOL!

Steaks? Look above. I just got chicken
for $1.40 to feed a whole family!
Can you imagine 4 steaks for $12??!!!
That cost could feed us 3 suppers or more!

I really need to get back into couponing
and get my binder out again and start
going at it. It's a lot of work but
can save so much money!

I really need to stock up on some meat.
I keep saying that but finding a good
deal on meat is hard at times.
You gotta be in the right place at the
right time to get your hands on the
mark downs before everyone else.

___________________________________________________

10:00PM

I've spent the last couple hours just
chillin and watching Ghost Whisperer.
There's something about that show
that keeps you drawn to it.

I got a homemade ice cream pie
made earlier with the recipe
above for strawberry cheesecake ice cream.
I put the ice cream in a graham cracker
crust and it's in the freezer hardening
at the moment. I added white chocolate
chips to the top.



For supper we had sweet italian bread
pizzas. I just love the taste of sweet
italian bread! I would love to figure
out how to make it in the bread machine.

Looks like we've got more storms rolling
through soon. I'm tired and I know if
I go to bed now I'll end up with both
kids, a cat and dog in the bedroom
until the storm passes so why not
stay up a little longer.
Looks like it won't be til about 11
to midnight before it gets here and
don't know if I can keep my eyes open
that long.

6-13-10

8:00AM

Trying to wake up. I guess we're gonna
head down to the flea market.
I'm thinking with all the rain last night
it's gonna be wet and muddy there
but everyone has their heart set on going.

6:00PM

This afternoon we headed up to Alum Creek
to do some fishing.
Afterwards we went to the beach.
Well I'm feeling a little burnt
on my shoulders and I'm tired
so might chill for the evening.






9:30PM

Well I thought I was chillin for the evening
when I decided to go cut the grass. I had
sweat in places it shouldn't of been, LOL!
Oh well it's done for another week.
Now if the rain would give us all a break.
My rain barrels are full once again
and I haven't had to water the garden in awhile.

Tomorrow it's back to the same ole same ole.
Vacation time is over :0(
At least Tony planned his vacation where
he doesn't have on call when he goes back.
The week after he does. It's always
a stressful week when he goes on call.
Can't do anything because you never know
when the pager will go off.
When the kids are out of school we always
tag along to help out to get the job
done quicker. I know this is gross but
I got my atta girl last time he was on call.
Tony says I'm a bloodhound and can smell
anything and everything. This one lady
called about a dead rodent somewhere in
her apartment. I went in with my sniffer
to find it. I found and retrieved it
out from under her dishwasher.
I couldn't imagine one of the yuppies
gals in the rental office doing
a maintenance man's work that's for sure.
I dive right in. That's how me and hubby
met. We both worked for maintenance
in an apartment complex.

Oh that reminds me of one of my favorite
songs. Gretchen Wilson says it all.
I sure do miss my 75 Chevy Stepside
pick 'em up truck when watching her
video. Getting used to drivin our 'Burban though.
It's got some giddy up go even though it's
a big bubba.

Getting kinda bummed vacation is over with.
I made a comment to Tony that when
we were in Hocking Hills I felt like
I fit in. It was so peaceful and quiet
without the rat race of rush hour traffic.
You definately knew when you were back
in Columbus with traffic and people
trying to run your ass over.
Everyone is in such a hurry in the city!
Country folks seem to know how to slow
down and take it easy.