WFMW

***I just went to Rocks in My Dryer to add my WFMW and noticed that this was a What Doesn't Work For Me edition.....I am sorry, but I hadn't been in a while, and I HAD to share about this silver cleaner!!!***** Forgive me please!


This is my first WFMW in MONTHS!!!!! BUT I had to come tell you all about this silver polish that I just discovered. Some of you have probably had this little silver cleaning secret in your pocket already....but for me I just found it and all I can say is wow... wow... wow...!!!!

A couple years before my grandmother passed away she gave me her silver service set. Twice a year I spend hours in one day trying to get it all nice and shiny. But last night in less than an hour I had it SO clean that I could see my reflection in every piece!!! I was even able to get down in the tight spots with this stuff. I had tried all the "home" remedies for cleaning it in the past, but it still took HOURS!!!! NOT ANY MORE......

I introduce to you all......

I got it at our HEB grocery store. I am sure you can get it just about anywhere that sales Goddard's. You can also get it here at Amazon. They have it priced at the same price I paid in the store. I bought the 6 oz. size and will be able to get one more cleaning out of it I am sure. I have tried their other cleaners, but this one is THE BEST! Just take a look and see.

This was the two bigger pieces before cleaning.....I know.....they look terrible..... The picture below this one is just a closer look at how BAD it was!

But then wet the sponge that is included in the jar, dab on some of the paste, rub, rinse, and this is what you get!!!!

This last picture picked up a lot of reflection from the marble counter tops....so parts of it look a little "brassy" but I assure you, it is far from looking brassy!!!

I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!

For more WFMW go on over to Shannon's at Rocks in My Dryer

WFMW

Wow....I LOVE this stuff! I starch just about everything and I use to keep a small dry cloth close by so that I could rub off the flakes from the starch. Well, not anymore! Now that I have found this stuff, I will never need that cloth again.....as long as they keep making it! You know how that works....you get use to something then all of a sudden it is no longer available.......I hope that doesn't happen with this stuff. I have even used it on black and navy blue clothes and it didn't flake at all. I LOVE IT!!!

For more ideas head on over to Shannon's at Rocks in My Dryer.

Works for Me Wednesday

Ok, I know some of you may think this is a little "shady". But I am going to do it and it will work for me. Anyway, since I have been trying to do this CVS and reward bucks thing, I decided to move all my prescriptions, 4 between the fam and I, from Walgreens and HEB to CVS. Besides, it would be better and make more sense to have them all at one place right? Also since I have been trying to save a little money I have been looking through all the local ads and I discovered that Kroger always has a coupon in their flyer for $20 off groceries if you moved your prescription to their pharmacy. So, after a little investigating I have found out that I can move 1 presription per week to Kroger and get that $20 coupon. That will be a total of $100 in savings on groceries over the next few weeks. Then when it is time to get them all refilled, I will move them to CVS. And when I move them to CVS I will get some reward bucks for getting them filled there too! WOOHOO!!!!

Don't know if that would work for you, but it does for me!

For more WFMW head on over to Shannon's at Rocks in My Dryer.

WFMW

Ok, so today's WFMW's assignment was to tell what kind of foods you make in a quick fix! My family loves rice, at least the kids and I do and the kids and I love beans. SO, there are many options for me especially when the hubby is gone. But when he is home, and I need something fast, here is one meal I can make (and I do not know the name)

Ingredients:

• 1 c. chicken breast (cubed)
• 2 tbs oil (veg. or olive)
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 cup instant rice (white or brown)
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 can black beans (with jalapenos if you like extra spice!)
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups shredded cheese (or less if you don't like it too cheesy)

Cook chicken in oil until done. Add salsa, taco seasoning and water. Cook until bubbly. Add rice and cover. Lower the heat to simmer for about 5 minutes, then (if using brown rice) allow to sit with lid on for another 5 minutes. After rice is done, stir in drained can of black beans. Cover the mixture with cheese and allow to sit with lid on for about 5 minutes to allow the cheese to melt.

Spoon onto plates and serve. Can be served with tortillas or tortilla chips. Sometimes we put the mixture on a tortilla then add a little sour cream and roll them up.

Pretty tasty!

Works For Me Wednesday

Our network has been giving us fits today so I couldn't upload any pictures. I have been busy working on something for Associated Content and almost forgot to post something for WFMW. So here it is....HOMEMADE birthday cakes. I know....many of you are thinking...."what's your point" or "I do that all the time." Well, not me. Since my 1st child was born, I have always bought their birthday cakes from other places. This year my 3 year old declared that Mommy was making her cake. She told me that it should be pink and white and have sprinkles on it too. So I did. But I didn't make your ordinary sheet cake. I decided that since her party was at the park this year, that I would make a cupcake cake. This is what I did:



I mixed up 2 boxes of cake mix.



Placed 24 jumbo cupcake liners in the muffin pan.



Filled each liner about 3/4 full of cake mix.



Baked them at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes.



Allowed them to cool completely on wire racks. (I just placed the pans on the racks.)



Placed them on a piece of cardboard in the shape I wanted.



Covered and I mean covered, them in icing. (In my case it took 3 cans of Duncan Hines plain white icing) (Yes I said 3 cans!)



Used those premade bags of icing and decorator tips you can get at WalMart to decorate around the edges, and write on the cake.



Placed these My Little Pony toys around the edge of the cake.



And voila! This is what we got: ( I had to link here since I couldn't upload a pic! )

Head on over to Shannon's for more WFMW.

Potty Training

Okay...now potty training my son was, believe it or not, the easiest thing I have ever done! The hubby was determined that Timothy would be out of diapers/pull ups before Rachel was born, so by the age of 2, yes I said 2, he was COMPLETELY potty trained!

Rachel has been another story. She is a VERY strong willed child and is determined to do ALL things on her own. It has taken me MONTHS to relay this message to the hubby. I know she does not have a physical problem that keeps her from being potty trained, it is simply a matter of "I will do it when I want and not when you tell me!" If I tell her to go, she will hold it for hours. This past Sunday she went 5 hours without going at all!!

The other day we ran out of pull ups. I have been putting her in panties off and on for the past 6 months or longer. We would run out of them and I would go a few days with out buying them and would insist that she wear panties. But this weekend when we ran out I decided I was not buying them anymore. She still sleeps in her toddler bed with the mattress from the crib, so it is waterproof and I decided that if she allowed me to put on the "plastic panties" over her other ones then I would, but if not I was not going to fight her any more.

At home we have only had 1 accident and that was at night. I do not tell her to go, but I gently remind her that she can tell me if she needs to go and needs help. The daycare has been another story. The teacher is SO set on keeping her schedule with all the kids and I can't say I blame her. But I have taken Rachel in panties and pick her up in a pull up. This morning I told her that I had put EXTRA clothes in the bag. Then I asked her if it would be possible to let Rachel tell her when she needs to go to the restroom, or to allow her to go on her own. (the potty is in the room) The teacher looked at me with her hands clasped and said, "Well you see, Rachel is not potty trained well enough yet for me to do that! There are others in here that can do that, but she can't!" The mother hen in me almost came out right then!!! I politely asked her a second time to do what I asked and she said, "Ok, that's fine but if she potties on herself I WILL put her in a pull up!" I bit my lip let out a heavy sigh and left!

After I left I called the director and discussed the issue with her. She agreed that as long as Rachel has an extra set of clothes that she should be allowed to wear the panties and said that she would discuss this with the teacher.

Here is where I need your help....do you think I handled this situation correctly? Do you think this teacher will be so upset with me that she will take it out on Rachel? How do I watch for signs of that? Do I talk to the teacher about it more? She is already frustrated with Rachel for the past. All that has gotten better, so I feel that the teacher is thinking she doesn't want to go that route. What do I do?

Head on over to Shannon's at Rocks in My Dryer for another addition of Backwards WFMW

One of THOSE!

**Note*** After posting this, I went to Rocks In My Dryer to link it here to see that next week is "Backward's Day" I guess this should have been for next week, but I had to share it this week. I am sure there will be plenty to share next time!

This is not your typical WFMW post. I need some help here. This is also not a post asking you to pursuade me to become a stay-at-home mommy, 0r asking for advise on how to become one. I am a working mother and will probably be one until I retire. I like working even though there are times in my current job when I feel totally useless (and that isn't very satisfying), but there are also times when I almost envy the thought of being able to stay at home.

My children are just getting to the ages when "outside" activites start. Timothy took swimming lessons this summer and started soccer this year and Rachel has been in baby ballet since September. Not too much, but enough for me right now. (I know it only gets "worse")

Here lies my frustration. I want to be one of those mommies that can "do it all". One that can go to work in the morning, come home in the afternoon, go to events (however many there are), KEEP my house in order (not necessarily even "clean" just in order however in order and clean would be AWESOME), make meals for the family, do all the church events and still have some kind of time for myself. I want to be one of those mommies that can make the treat bags for the class party. I saw one of those mommies this morning going into the daycare and it kind of sparked this on today. I want to be that "room mother" for my kids one day. The one I remember seeing come in as a child with all the goodies. The one that planned a lot of those fun activities we did as a class.

There are days when I get home from work that I just want to crash. At the same time I know I still have dinner to fix, kids to bathe, books to read to little ears and prayers to pray. Where is the time to play? Not MY time to play, but I feel as if I never get to "play" with my kids. I feel as if all I do is feed bellies, clean bodies, and put them to bed. Sometimes as I mentioned months back, I even skip the reading part just so I can have some down time myself. Then I feel like this terrible monster for not wanting to read to my kids.

I need something that works for me here. I am not the best at organization. My house is a constant wreck, and I seem to be tired all the time. What can I do to make this better?

For more on WFMW head on over to Shannon's at Rocks In My Dryer .

$2.00 Milk!!!

Well, this is a really quick WFMW tip. Many of you who watch your budget and are super frugal may already know this, but I just found out! Yesterday we were out of milk at the house (had been for a day and a half!) anyway, after work I ran to the Kroger store that is just around the corner from my school to get milk. I went to the back and noticed that some of the milk jugs had $2.00 stickers on them that said "Manager's Special". I looked closer to see that the sell by date was Oct. 20th. Yesterday was the 16th and with the way we drink milk and the price it has been lately, I figured that I should jump on this. The only problem (for my household) was that these stickers were only on the 1% and skim milk jugs!!! However, we already drink 2% so I figured I would get the 1% and see if the hubby complains. If he doesn't then this works for me and I will be going to Kroger to get milk more often. It's on my way and it saves me almost $2!

Head on over to Rocks In My Dryer for more WFMW.

Works For Me Wednesday

Ok, this a first for me. I have seen this on several of the blogs I "browse" through on occasion. For those of you who don't know this is Works-For-Me-Wednesday. It is sponsored by Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer.

The idea is to share what works for you with the others so that we can all gather this huge bank of things that "work"! Don't you ever think, "I wish I knew how to ........." or "This is such a neat idea, I need to share it." Well you can do that through WFMW.

Have you ever used Fabuloso? I LOVE this stuff! I usually get it at Walmart, Target, or my local grocery store. My personal favorite is the Green Apple scent. (It comes in many different ones.) I use it on EVERYTHING (Except my wood floors that is.) I can use just a half cup or less of this stuff and my whole house will smell like green apples (for me that is) for a day and half! Sometimes I just like to put about a 1/4 cup of this in an old coffee cup and fill it the rest of the way with water, and set it on the bathroom counter or behind the toilet just to make the place smell fresh. A cousin of mine actually runs her mop slightly over her carpet before she mops the floors to "freshen" up her carpet. Our carpet is beige so I don't try this, but hers is dark so it works for her!

Many of those scented candles or plugins become too strong over time of being turned on or lit. But this stuff doesn't do that. The smell does deminish, but just a little at a time is all you need!

Well, that was my first WFMW. Hope you enjoyed!

DQ