Homemade Play-Doh with Kool Aid

My son Matthew and I had some fun one on one time making play-doh together. Who knew that play-doh would occupy him so much that he hardly watches tv or goes on the computer anymore?  He likes to play restaurant, where we order the food and he makes it (out of play-doh!).  So cute.

Here are the simple instructions:

Recipe
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of salt
3 tbsp oil
1 kool aid packet (1 per colour you want to make)
1 cup of boiling water

In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, oil and kool aid packet.  Add the boiling water and stir.  Once cooled down, kneed with hands.  Put in a container into the fridge and you're done...on to the next colour!

 Letting Matthew do all the measuring and mixing was part of the fun!

As we progressed through the colours it got a bit messier...nothing that the vacuum can't handle! 

Look at him with flour all over his face!  He loved getting right in there and I loved watching him!

I think his favourite part was kneading the dough with his hands. 

We made 4 colours in total and put them into a container which Matthew labeled.

HAPPINESS!  Seeing your kid proud of themselves is such a rewarding feeling!

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My Easy Go-To Dinner

I love my crock-pot.  I love that I can put the ingredients in, turn it on and walk away.  My families favourite crock-pot recipe is Pulled Pork and the way I make it is SO EASY and SO YUMMY!  Here's the recipe:

Step 1. Throw about 2.5lbs of pork into the crock-pot.

Step 2. Chop up onion and put it on top of pork.

Step 3. Grab your bbq sauce of choice and pour over pork.

Step 4. Put the lid back on and put on Low.  Here's the best part...Walk Away!

I usually let mine cook for 7 - 9 hours.  When it's done I drain out any excess juice, add more bbq sauce and use a knife and fork to shred into little pieces.  

Serve on fresh buns with a salad on the side and you have a yummy dinner, with very little effort.

SEE?  EASY!

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Sick Day...Ugh

First you may want to read a little background of why I started this blog, it will help you understand why even on a good day, I'm feeling pretty lousy right now and why having this cold on top of it sucks big time!...You can read it Here.

Yesterday and Today I have been sick with a really bad cold and sinus infection (just what I needed!). But as many of you know, mom's don't get a day off (well not really).  Here's a day in the life of a sicky mom:

6:50am - Force myself out of bed and head downstairs to make the kids school lunches.  Gag on oil of oregano.



7:15am - Grab my favourite mug and pour myself a coffee.  (Yes I really do feel as bad as I look!)
7:30am - Feed kids breakfast...make sure they have on clean underwear and brush their teeth!  (they try to be sneaky...but don't they know that I know all the tricks...in fact I may have invented some of them!)

8:00am - Grab crock-pot for Go-To Easiest Dinner ever....my pulled pork.  For the easy recipe go HERE.


8:15am - Boot kids out the door for school.  Breathe. sigh. of. relief.

He's not really crying, he's being "funny" for the photo op!

8:30am - Eat some breakfast....take vitamin C, multi-V, iron and bcomplex....drink lots of water.

9:00am - Crawl back to bed.  Work on blog on laptop...try to snooze but with no success (kind of hard when I can't breath).

11:00am - Give up trying to sleep...do next best thing...read book that I'm loving (Jodi Picoult's "Handle with Care).

11:45am - Steam myself in bathroom to try and relieve some pressure in my sinuses...no luck.  Pop more tylenol.

12:15pm - Throw in a load of laundry.  Fold and put away the clean stuff.

12:45pm - Heat up some yummy, homemade, yellow pea soup and make some toast for lunch.  (I will post the recipe in a future post..it's REALLY good!)

While the soup is heating, stare blankly at the hole above the fireplace and wonder for the thousandth time...why did the builders put that square hole there?  Why didn't I insist they fill it in with drywall?  How should I decorate it?  OH!  Microwave is beeping!

1:00pm - Feel totally ripped off because I can't taste my yummy soup.  This would be a good time to eat brussell sprouts (yuck!).

1:30pm - Work on blog.

2:00pm - Shower and get dressed (yes I was in my pj's this whole time!)

2:30pm - Leave to go pick up kids from school.

2:45pm - Hit the grocery store to pick up fresh buns and salad to go with dinner (bribe kids with gum)

3:30pm - Get home and unload groceries.  Remember that I promised Matthew we would make homemade playdough together.  (I had already bailed on him yesterday cause I was feeling so sick).

4:00pm - Make a big mess playdough with Matthew (this is for a whole other post) but here's a sneak peak:

Isn't he cute?!

4:45pm - Clean up big mess.  Start vacuuming everywhere, cause, hey, it's in my hand anyway!  Stop vacuuming when hit with a cold sweat.

5:00pm - Laundry into dryer.  

5:30pm - Shred up the pork for dinner, prepare salad and buns.

5:45pm - Hubby home...not looking too good, seems to be sick too :(
6:00pm - Eat dinner with family.
6:30pm - Hubby heads to bed (2 parents down!)
6:45pm - Clean up dinner dishes with kids (not too many with this meal...yay!)
7:00pm - Homework help....my brain is fuzzy, I'm starting to hit a wall.  Oh Dear.
8:00pm - Michael usually gets the kids ready for bed...but not tonight.  I would so like to head back to bed...and try to sleep!  Soon...soon.  Oh please let me sleep and wake up without this headache!
8:10pm - Watch clock and wait for 8:30pm so I can tuck Matthew in. 
8:20pm - Almost cry because HTML is giving me grief.  Oh well....Publish this blog post anyways.

Any miracle cures out there for sinus colds?  Please share!

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Goodness!

Well, I finally made one of my favourite holiday (no calorie?) delicious peanut butter squares that I had only ever had at other peoples houses.  I found the original recipe here on the blog The Great Balancing Act.  Let me make a few comments here about this blog.  I was originally just going there to get the idea of the recipe when I started to read some of her other postings.  This woman is incredible!  She is only 25 years old, was diagnosed with cancer this year and is on her way to kicking it's butt!  She chronicles her journey in such a real yet positive and uplifting way that I couldn't stop reading.  You have to check out her blog...I'm sure you'll get hooked just as I did!  Click here to go to The Great Balancing Act.

Back to the recipe!  I changed it up a little.

There are only 4 ingredients: 1/2 cup of butter, 1 cup of peanut butter, 300g bag of butterscotch chips and 250g bag of white mini marshmallows.

Melt the butter, peanut butter and butterscotch chips in a pot on low, stirring constantly.

 So glad the measurements are right on the butter package! (It's the little things!)

I used one of these measuring cups from the pampered chef for the peanut butter.  

They're awesome because it scrapes all the peanut butter out and nothing is wasted.

 This is my youngest, Matthew, pulled in by the delicious smell wafting from the kitchen! 

Everyone got in on the action, even my daughter's ventriloquist dummy (that's a whole other subject to blog about!) 

Once everything is smooth and melted, let it cool for about 10 minutes and then add the marshmallows and pour it into a dish.  Put it in the freezer for 1 hour to set, cut and serve (and devour!).  Enjoy!