My Tip of the DAY:

Ok, now don't go expecting a tip everyday, we all know that will not happen.  Anyway, one tip that the organizing lady shared with our Families First Class last week was about reducing your junk mail and telemarketing calls.  

Reduce Junk mail and telemarketing calls:

Send your name and address (all variations) on a postcard to:

Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association,
PO BOX 9008
Farmingdale, New York 11735-9008

Telephone Preference Service
PO BOX 9014
Farmingdale, New York 11735-9014

I just mailed off mine today.  We will see if there is a reduction in my junk mail and annoying unavailable calls.

The last thing I did was called the Opt Out Request line for the major credit bureaus - I didn't realize it but they give out all my info to those annoying credit card people, that is why I get a million credit card offers a day.  So I wanted to end that!

Opt Out Request Line for Experion, Novus, Equifax and TransUnion: 1-888-567-8688

This is a menu based process, but the process is easy and short!  Push One...if your alive, etc....you know the drill *smirk

I am on a mission to simplify my life!!!!!  This is one of many steps...get rid of the junk mail!  Why should it be cluttering up my dining room table???

I enjoy this column called the last word in Parenting magazine.  Thought I would share.......................

A Parent's Bill of Rights

Whereas you have chosen to perpetuate the human species, and to then cohabitate with your offspring, you have surrendered many natural rights.  However, you are hereby entitled to the following, arising specifically from your situation:

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to serve last night's dinner for breakfast, even if it's pizza, if the masses so demand.

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to abandon most household rules when you 2 yr old says "please".

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to toss out select pieces of your child's artwork, including the masterpiece of paint spilled on the phone list.

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to stir cough syrup into apple juice, to sprinkle ground cold tabs onto peanut butter and jelly, to mix children's laxative with soda - and to feign innocence when caught.

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to close your eyes and trail off to a mumble during the fifth bedtime book.

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to insist that your child's preschool allow her to throw away uneaten portion of her yogurt rather than send it back home in her lunch box.

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to start you children's nap time early when the 5 yr old threatens to chop off the 2 yrs old head.

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to weep uncontrollable at the commercial with the girl reading the Braille fast-food menu.

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to eat any vegetable dipped in ketchup to convince your child of it's culinary qualities. 

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT  to stay up until midnight talking with an adult even when you need the sleep.

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT  to forgive anything with a bedtime hug.

YOUR HAVE THE RIGHT to endure sleeplessness, hopelessness, embarrassment, endless colds, loss of dignity, loss of privacy and aimlessness......and to want to do it all over again.

Parenting Magazine - October 2001

Tommy's 4-Month Checkup:

Tommy did well at his appointment.  He is weighing 17 pounds 11 ounces.  He is 26 inched long.  He is in the 90th % for height and weight, so he is still considered a big boy!  Developmentally he is functioning at about 6 month old they said.  He is beginning to do some of the 7 months stuff.   Tommy was laughing and having a great time with the Dr.  Talking a mile a minute like always.  It was funny. 

Tommy isn't going to start on solid foods quite yet.  He isn't drinking enough formula yet the Dr said.  He would like to have Tommy at about 35 ounces before we introduce cereal.  So Tommy is about 4 1/2 months old now, so we will wait until he is about 5 months or so.  He is still sleeping through the night and not appearing to be very hungry.    I talked the Dr about making my own babyfood which he said was fine, actually healthier since there were no preservatives.    I will be use commercial baby cereal initially though.  I brought the book Super Baby Food to the appointment and showed the Dr what they reccommended for frist foods, and he was fine with them. 

Tommy had four shots.  Man, do I hate that.  He cried so much.  He did fine, but was crabby most of the evening and he woke up at about 1:00 am with a slight fever and crabby.  This morning he seems to be his cheerful self again.  He is such a joy to us. 

I took a great picture of Josh holding Tommy the other day.  Those two are best buds.   Joshua adores his brother, Tommy.  It is a wonderful thing for me.  I am so glad I was persistent in trying to conceive for so many years, I would never had wanted Josh to miss out on this experience. 

We went to the library yesterday before the Drs.   I had about 10 books on reserve.  LOL!!  I was reading the practical homeschooling magazine and I stumbled across this great book I ordered for Tommy.    It is a book with weekly activites for children ages birth to 5.   I read a few excerpts from it online at Amazon.  I thought that would be nice.  Tommy is only 18 weeks so we have a lot more weeks we can do.   Slow and Steady Get Me Ready : A Parents' Handbook for Children from Birth to Age 5
by June R. Oberlander.  Check it out.........seems like a cool book. 

Well time to get about my day.  Later!

Well it is off to bed for me....I have been messing around on the computer all enough.  Tomorrow is a relaxed day for me.  I am going to work a bit from home in the morning.  Then I have to go to a very quick appointment at 12:30.  In the afternoon I am not working and I am just being Mommy.  I am taking Tommy to get his 4-month shots and checkup.  I hate that, but Paul will be with us too.  Hopefully they will start Tommy on cereal.  We will see!

 We had this for supper tonight.  I wasn't so sure it would be good, but it was very good!  It was very tender.  Erik didn't like the sauce, but he hates applesauce.  Josh and Paul both ate a number of servings.   

Special Pork Tenderloin

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 pork tenderloin (1 pound each)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

In a shallow bowl, combine flour, salt if desired and pepper.  Cut each tenderloin into six pieces; flatten to about 1-in. thickness.  Melt butter in a large skillet.  Dip pork into flour mixture; add to skillet and brown on both sides.  Place in a ungreased 9 X 13 baking pan.  In the same skillet, sauté onion and garlic until tender.  Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil.  Pour over pork.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until the juices run clear and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.  
 --- Quick Cooking March/April 1999

Not sure if you all have the restaurant Old Country Buffet, where you live.  We have them here and my children love this dessert there.  I found this recipe in America's Best Slow Cooker Recipes.  There are a number of other recipes I want to try as well.   I made Country-Style Honey Garlic Ribs from this book last night. 

UPSIDE-DOWN FUDGE BROWNIE PUDDING

1 cup  -   all-purpose flour
2 tsp  -   baking powder
3/4  -  granulated sugar
3 tbsp -  cocoa
1/2 Cup -  milk
2 tbsp -  butter, melted
1 tsp - vanilla
1/4 cup - chopped walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup  - packed brown sugar
2 tbsp - cocoa
2 cups - boiling water
Vanilla Ice Cream

1.  In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, sugar and cocoa; mix well.

2.  In another bowl, combine milk, butter and vanilla.  Stir into four mixture and add walnuts.  The batter will be very thick.  Spread evening in prepared slow cooker insert.

3.  In a bowl combine brown sugar and cocoa.  Add boiling water, mixing well.  Pour over batter in slow cooker. 

4.  Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or until toothpick inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean.  Spoon into individual bowls and serve with scoops of vanilla ice cream. 

Hello..........Happy Weekend....

Saturday - We headed to pick up a few items at Target and the grocery store.   We took all three boys with us.   It was fine, but then we went to Toys R Us so Erik could use his gift cert.  Well, he has no idea what he wants, he just grabs anything off the shelf.  Hubby got upset with him, since all Erik wanted to do was spend money, he could care less what he got.  So we ended up leaving with nothing and a frustrated Daddy.   Trying to teach Erik the value of a dollar, is so difficult.  He wanted to get this toy, and he almost had enough money, but he had insisted on taking money to the Science Museum and bought a weather station, which he will NEVER use.   But he HAD to get something.    Eventually this lesson will sink in, but until then, he will be frustrated as will his Dad. 

I made Country Style Honey Garlic Ribs for supper in the crock pot.  Everyone liked them.    Josh and a friend went to the mall for a bit and then Hubby rented a movie to watch with the boys.  The Golden Child....pg-13 - not a movie I would have chosen for them.  The vocabulary was not something Erik should be hearing. 

SUNDAY - up early for church.  Made it church on time and everything.  Tommy was very good at church but wanted to jabber alot.  After church we went to Old Country Buffet for brunch.  Now we are home and finishing up homework with the kids.  

Tonight for supper we are having Special Pork Tenderloin, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Peas and Asparagus and a chocolate fudge dessert.    Well I suppose I should straighten up the house and get on that supper. 

Last night I took a long bath and finished my book, Tending Roses.  It was pretty good, kind of a feel good book. 

My friend wrote the following reveiw about the book........

Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate
As I started this book, I was fully prepared for it to be quite schmaltzy
and while it definitely had saccharine moments, overall it was better than I expected.  Kate, her husband, and their infant son who has had major heart surgery, move back to the family farm to take care of Kate’s grandmother while the rest of the family hashes out how they are going to convince Grandma Rose that she needs to be put in a nursing home.  For the three weeks leading up to Christmas that they live with the old woman, Kate comes to understand her crotchety grandmother better and to face some important truths about her own feelings and life.  She comes to this understanding slowly, with the help of her grandmother’s journal and the stories in it written especially for her.  The stories are a bit on the preachy side but they do point to our need to constantly re-evaluate what is most important to us and how to attain balance in our lives.  For some of us who need more introspection in our lives, it’s worth the price of the paperback.  For others, get it at the library.    

Well gotto run, the boys got the creepy crawler machine out so I have to go bake the critters....ARGH!!  I wish Erik would ask BEFORE he gets all this junk out and started. 

Hello..........

How is everyone doing?  The days of the week are jsut rushing by me.  I hate when that happens.  Last night I got home from work, had supper and worked on our taxes.  I have the state and federal done, I just have to recheck and rewrite them.  We have a descent size return coming so I hope it will be enough to make it so my hubby won't have to go back to work until September.  It is a good feeling to have all three of my boys home with their Dad for the summer.    I wish we could cut back out expenses enough to be able to manage on mone income permanently, but I don't think we can.  But we have managed nicely for around 3 years.  It worked out perfectly with having hte baby, since I didn't want to have him in daycare for the first year of his life.  Tommy will start daycare at my SIL's daycare in September.  SHe didn't want to start him over the summer, since she has a lot of other kids then.  but when school starts again she is down to just the little ones again.  I think that will work out nicely.

I suppose I better get moving and get to work.  I have a number of things to get done there.  I of course made my to do list last night before coming home.  That is working out very well, a bit more planning sure makes me day go better.

Erik is coming for weekend visitation today.  Hubby will be picking him up around 3:30.  Well i best get moving....have a great Friday!!