In search of the perfect brocoli caserol!

First off, I was tagged again- go to your 6th folder and put up the 6th picture. (I did that last time and it somehow was the same picture as this time, so this time I did 4 and 4 again....) I Love this picture, one of my favorites of the baby and her dada!

Ok- on to the casserole. I am in search of the perfect broccoli casserole! I mean the kind of gooey wonderfulness that you get when you have a baby from the relief society! We got an amazing one when baby was born, it had bread crumbs and sesame seeds on top and was SO delicious!! I want a good recipe. There is the deal- leave me a comment or email me your recipe for the perfect broccoli cheese casserole, and I will try each one! It might take a few weeks! lol. Anyway, if yours wins, I will send you a fun little gift of a couple of hand made dishcloths! So get typing and send me your favorites!!!

Revamped Onsies! (Tutorial)

Alright- I guess it is time for my weekly tutorial! Ray Ray has been wearing A LOT of longies, capri wollies and skirty's these past couple of weeks. My only problem is that until now I have been a complete onsie mama! My baby NEVER didnt have a onsie on! (In fact she usually had one as an undershirt and then her shirt was one too!) So it has been really hard for me to find things in her closet that would work without wicking. The problem is that they are all SUPER short and bare too much belly when it is THIS cold! SO I decided to take a few of the old ones that are getting too small anyway, and make some shirts out of them!

It is seriosly easy! Take you onsie and lay it out somewhere flat.

take your rotary cutter and ruler or just scissors and cut along the bottom as close to the bias tape line as possible.
Now just iron it a TINY fold under and then again (you dont want it to fray)

wallah! Easy as can be! Now she can wear this for another 6 months!! I pulled mine a little, that is why it is so ruffly on the bottom. Either way- I LOVE IT!

Some cool stuff!

Lastnight, while I was suposed to be doing my homework, I can across a post on the forum I belong to about a company called chacha. I had heard the ladies talk about it before and decided I would give it a try. What it is, is a text message awnsering company basically. You text in ANY question you might have to the number 242242 and you will almsot imediatly be awnsered with the awnser. Try it, I swear it is awesome! It is free, with just standard messaging charges applying, and you can really ask AnYtHiNg!

SO anyway, they are taking new recruits for the job of awnsering questions. All you have to do is go to http://becomeaguide.chacha.com/ all you have to do is take a short test, watch about an hour of orientation videos and you are off earning money! (It may be only like $0.20 a question, but those add up and it is great for play money!) I know most of you are on the computer most of the day anyway! (lol haha) so you may as well be doing something with it right?!? Did I mention it is free for you to sign up too!

Secondly, I was watching tv this morning and saw a commercial for a free frozen entree from Kashi! I LOVE Kashi! They make yucky sounding things taste so good! SO go to www.kashi.com and put in yoru info for a free frozen meal! You CANT beat free right?!?!

The easiest lasagna you will ever make!

I got a lot of stuff done today- I even made dinner! SO I decided to share one of my super cheap, super easy and super yummy recipe's!

Lasagna roll ups

1 lb hamburger browned
1 can spagetti sauce
1 tub cottage cheese
2 cups motserella cheese
3 heaping tablespoons parmasean cheese
10-14 lasagna noodles boiled and ready

Mix the hamburger and the sauce in a bowl. Drain noodles and set aside. (can be adente) Mix all cheeses together in another bowl. In a large glass caserolle dish lay out noodles one at a time and do this- Spread big spoonfuls of sauce mixture on noodles, then top with cheese's. Roll up starting at bottom adn being sure to keep contents inside. Move to the top of dish. Continue with all noodles! Take extra sauce and spread on top of noodles. Sprinkle extra cheese on top of that! Cook in over at 350 until bubbly and hot!

(I like to make mine up in the morning and put in fridge until half hour before we want to eat. Simply pop into oven before tunring it on to preheat (we dont want a broken glass caserolle! lol)

These can also be put into the microwave 1 or 2 at a time because it is all completely cooked! We just like ours crispy!

Vuallah! Let me know what you think if you try it!

For a good cause

http://hyenacart.com/VinhThiDesigns/index.php?c=37 This is an auction for a whole bunch of stuff. The proceeds from this auction will go to a SAHM of 8 kids whose husband just comitted suicide. It is all very sad and tragic and I know the family would really appreciate any help they could get! Please take a few moments to check out the stuff and donate if you can! I cant imagine how hard that must be!

What Josie Needs.....

Ok- go to google and type in your name and needs after it, then post what it says! it is pretty funny!! Post the first 10

** Josie Needs***
1. A piss lol (ok, I dont get it....)
2. Lyrics
3. Air! (ok, I agree with that one!)
4. A home
5. Some luck in her life
6. A pillow
7. To go to a home with at least one other dog to play with her. (Yippe, someone to play with! lol)8. A miracle
9. Help- and airbrush techniques (do I really look THAT bad?!?)
10. A better storyline

Now your turn! Apparently there are many dogs and cats out there names Josie!

This is hilarious and fun!!

Here are the rules:

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to "Random quotations" by clicking: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Band name: USS Garlopa

First Album: If your ship doesnt come in, swim to it!

Album cover:

Please make sure you leave a comment if you do it so that I can come see what you came up with!!

Baby leg warmers tutorial

ug- baby has been sick for like almost 2 weeks now- it sucks and she whines non stop and it is sad. Anyway, to get over it all, yesterday I decided tomake a new tutorial- this one is for the fun leg warmers (like the expensive baby legs). This is te perfect time of year for these babies- it is getting warmer, we are all ready to ditch the sweats, but it is still too cold to do so! These little leg warmers let your baby go with just a skirt or onsie all day, and make diaper changing a breeze- no pants to pull down and up whatsoever! I love these things for my girl because she litterally wont lay still long enough for me to put pants on her! lol

ok- first of all, this is probably one of the easiest tutorials EVER! These make the cutest little baby gift for boys or girls, and took me less than 5 minutes to do 2 pairs start to finish- I am not kidding!

ok- start out with a pair of patterend socks. (I got these at Walmart for $1!) Longer socks work much better on bigger babes, but it really does not matter at all. I would get a couple of different lenghts so you can see what size will be best- trust me, once you see how easy this is you will be making a ton!

Using a rotery cutting board, lay the ruler on the sock so that it will make a straight cut right above the heal. If you dont have a cutting board or cutter, mark a line with a pencil and ruler and cut with scissors.
Now for the cut below the heel. Lay the footy part so that you will have a completely straight cut once again (I hope these pictures help!) Cut.
I didnt get a picture of this, but go ahead and cut off the toe part the same way. (again so the entire part of the sock that you have now cut is straight.)Here is a picture of it all cut up- you should have the top half, the heel part, the foot part and a toe.Take the foot part and fold it inside of itself. (in half) This is now the 'cuff'.Slide the leg part of the sock into the 'cuff' that you just made. Pin all 3 edges together so that they dont slip. Sew together! I actually sew it straight 2 times around and then zigzag just so it wont come apart. Just make sure you get all the layers!
Wallah!!! You now have a cute and easy pair of leg warmers! Now, if you know me at all, you knew there would be a giveaway at the end of this post, didnt you! So please leave me a comment with your link to your blog, or your email addy if you dont have a blog and tell me why you would like a pair of these and what color would work best for you! It never hurts to enter! (I actually gave away bows to every person who contacted me about them!) SO go ahead and enter- and blog about how cool I am too if you want! ;P lol.

OH YEAH- and if you dont sew, or dont want to tackle a project like this- PLEASE email me and I will give you my address to send me the socks, and if you pay for the shipping, I will make them up for you for free!

I got tagged!

I got tagged twice! SO here goes-

First This is the 4th picture in my 4th folder on my computer- kind of s strange folder, as it is all pictures of my dad and such (from when we put together a digital picture frame for fathers day!) You cant even see his face or anything- he is building a fence I guess....

Next was a random tag

Post the rules on your blog

List 6 random things about yourself

Tag 6 people at the end of your post

Let each person know they have been tagged

So here goes:

*I am not a cake, cookie, snacks person. This does not apply to the following, cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, m&m cookies, sugar cookies, pie. Hahaha- oh, and chocolates and candy bars.......

*I can NOT sit still. I cant just sit and watch tv, I have to be doing something with my hands, sewing, knitting, crocheting.... and if I dont, I am biting my nails.

*I have a very bad habit of forgetting about my laundry. I OfTeN leave loads in teh washer overnight. I have had to (on about 5 occasions) wash my diapers 4 times, just because I forget and leave them in there! (Which reminds me, time to go change my loads!)

*I want so badly to be a farm girl. I was raised with a father who is a cowboy, and I had horses and lambs. I am excited my DH is going to become a vet and bring home all the "culled" (non producing) animals and start us a farm! We have had so far in our marraige, chickens, 3 cats, a dog, a horse, and hopefully a lamb soon!

*I hate having the internet near me. I waste WAY too much time lately, and I HATE that! I need to go right now and get some sewing done!

I tag, Jackie, Kylie's mom, Krystal, Jennifer, Devon and Hailey- however, anyone who would like to do it should! Cause it is fun! leave me a comment if you do!

Octuplets

SOrry, I have been having trouble blogging lately- baby has a UTI and I actually got some homework done in my spare time! Imagine that!

Ok- so I know that the octuplets in California are quite the hot topic right now. I know a lot of people are angry, furious even. I think that is rediculous! It isnt the fault of the babies that there are 8 of them, and it will do them no good if these people kill their mother- but that is all another story! I dont care if this woman is in it for publicity, for the extra kids, if she has issues- none of it matters to me! The only thing that should be on the minds of the people of America are those 8 tiny babies! I dont think people should be sending this lady tons of money, but I DO think they should send some of the essential everyday items that she is going to need in the next couple fo months! I am wracking my brain, trying to think of what I can do to help. We are poor, but I do have some skills! lol. If anyone would like to help me out with this- ideas, sugesstions, products, money etc.... please let me know! You can email me at Josieannking@hotmail.com or you can leave me a comment! Let me know what you think of the whole thing!

New Etsy site!!

I finally did it- I broke down and got myself an etsy site! Make sure to go over and check it out! I am very excited about it and will be adding new things weekly! So check back often- the link is http://ohbabyboutique.etsy.com . Thanks for looking!

non-paper paper towels

I have felt the need to blog about this subject for some time now. Why? Well because I wholeheartedly beleive it is one of the few BIG things we did in our life to save a lot of money.

It started at first when we moved and didnt have the extra funds to go out and buy paper towels. I had gotten a couple of stacks of washcloths for our wedding and figured I would try them out until we got our next paycheck. I was hooked from then on!

These babies are the best! You can do anything with them, get them filthy and wash them to be brand new again! I alwasy felt terrible cleaning up with paper towels because I am not a fan of gunk, or of getting gunk onto my hands (as often happens with a thin papertowel!) And I would use like 1/4 a roll each time I would clean! This way, I can use as many as I want and not feel bad about it! I had washcloths coming out of my eyeballs! I seriosly had like 4 stacks full!

About 6 weeks ago there was a duck frying accident at our house....... (DH and his BFF decided to fry a duck in my fry daddy- in order to get it completely oiled up they filled it up too full. The entire counter, sink, cabinet, drawer full of baby feeding supplies, floor, and pretty much a weeks worth of mail were taken as casualties......) ANyway, after that incident, my washcloths were being grabbed out of every spot they could be found and being thrown onto the oil. Of course men dont understand the difference in many things, rags and wash cloths being one of those things. They grabbed, and managed to ruin, every single one of my nice washcloths! The only ones that made it out alive were the ones in the washer.... I was SO mad!

So being the cheepwad that I am, I have still yet to go buy myself more! I am using a couple of old towels that I have cut with a pocket knife! (anyone else have huge issues finding scissors in a time of need?!? lol) I am staging an intervention for myself tomarro, and I will be going out to buy myself new washcloths, if anyone wants to join in on the cause a simple email to me will give you my addres..... JUST KIDDING!!!!

Anyway- I LOVE washcloths- they are so great! So I dare you to try it for one week. If you dont think you can go paper towelless for a whole week, then try for a whole day, or two whole days- just think of the money you can save just by cutting something so simple out of your weekly budget! You will soon find them to be much better for scrubbing and much easier to deal with in the process!

So what do you think? I know many of my fellow crunchy diva's do this already, but I am certain at least half of my readers have never tried it- are you willing to take the challenge? Let me know!

Weekend works in progress

The skirty's I made this week! I am seriosly considering selling them..... would anyone buy?My little model in her valentines outfit!

So this is what I got done this week. Not much for a normal week for me.... It has been crazy here lately, the baby hasnt felt well and I havnt had much extra time. I did manage to finish one skirty and start and finish another one this week! So that is really fun! I have been having a hard time getting ym new Etsy site up and going..... hm.... I am going to work hard on it this weekend and then post a link so you can all tell me how you like it! Anyway, hopefully more projects and maybe a tutorial or two next week! I just need some ideas of what you guys want me to make a tutorial... I am up for anything!!Pretend it isnt sideways (blogger.....) 14 newborn diapers (not for me, for a cousin!)

First set of questions- from Kylie's mom

Here is my first set of questions from “Kylie’s mom”
Be sure to leave a comment asking your own questions!


What is your favorite fruit and why?

· Pineapple!!! It is just so good and sour and juicy and smells so wonderful!!


What do you like to sew the best?

· Hm….. that’s a really hard one! I like to sew everything! I like to make diapers- I have a lot of fun doing it and they are pretty easy for me. I like to make gifts for people. I like to make my daughter dresses for Sunday- she has 2 dresses in her whole closet that were not made by me!How did you learn how to sew?Probably in middle school in home ec. My mom used to sew, crossstitch, all that stuff, but does none of it now. I kind of taught myself….. I don’t know. I just try things out to see if they will work. Sometimes they will, sometimes they wont!

Are you prepared for The Terrible Twos? (that's actually a moniker, I've found...they appear usually right after baby's first birthday)

Well, by the looks of today- It looks like there is no time left for preparing, it is here! (It is so funny because I read your post about Sam’s temper tantrums yesterday and though- WOW, that is exactly what Bailey is doing RIGH NOW! (except it was with the remote and not the cordless phone! lol

Where are my keys?

I have asked myself this question MANY times. So here are some suggestions on what I have done that may work for you-
1. Have you checked in the cup holder in the car? (DH loves to throw my keys in there when he has his own he wants to use in the ignition- sometimes he is even super helpful and locks them in there!)
2. Have you checked in the toy box?
3. What about the bathtub?
4. Are they in the bottom of your diaper bag?
5. How about in the fridge?

Still no help? Sorry, hope you resolve that one too, and when you find a beeper for the keychain, be sure to buy an extra and send it over to my house!

Ohhhhhh when there is just way too much to do!

Wow I am having some sort of week.... I have just been in a total slump all week long. My child turned 1 and turned into a monster in the process! Ok, really she just had to get 5 shots and I think is still just trying to get through it! She has been sleeping maybe a total of an hour durring the day, and crying and throwing huge fits most of the rest of the time. I didnt know a 1 year old could be so naughty! Oh well, hopefully today gets a little better!
I have a play date AND a visitor coming tomarro, both of which I need to clean my house for. I have about a million things I need to sew, now that my sewing machine (which has been broken for an entire month!) is working just fine! (gotta love a DH who loves to tinker and a set of wire nuts!) I have SO much homework- in fact, I really dont even know where I am SuPoSeD to be, my teacher is no help at all to me, and my computer wont work with the software this week!

Ok- so all that whining and complaining is out.... Phew!! So here comes the fun part- anyone got any questions to ask me? I am in the mood for some chatting and will freely awnser any question asked- so go ahead!!

What a waste of our tax dollars....

I just looked out my darling little ones window and there are 13 fire trucks and 5 police cars at the nursing home across the street. Serisously?!?! Why 13? The place is NOT a fireball....... I dont get it! (expecially since we live in a small city! I didnt even know we HAD 13 firetrucks!!)

My LO just slept right through it all!! (notice the binki is upsidedown!)

Whats better than a giveaway?

poor college students are not the only ones who like a giveaway! Please go to http://mylifexpressed.blogspot.com/2009/02/give-oh-give-away.html and enter! Julie is giving away an entire blog makeover! Go sign up!! SHe has done all 4 of my blogs and does the most amazing job! So go sign up! And if you signed up to win the bows- please email me your address to Josieannking@hotmail.com and I will send you a set- because thats how I roll! (see, it pays to enter!)

I got some new sewing machines!

Yes, I just got 2.... maybe I will be getting another this week also! haha. Yes the other 2 are mine- they were just at my MIL's house 3 1/2 hours away! So I am excited to start sewing again and get some tutorials up!

SO for now- here is the Tshirt I made for the birthday girl. (sorry they are sideways)I just went to JA's and got a couple of packages of iron on jewles and went to town. It turned out really cute and was a fun thing for her to wear for her special day(s)! I made the 1 by hand. meaning I bout a pack of individual jewels, marked where I wanted them onto the shirt with pencil and then went to town! Make sure you iron for longer than you think you would need, because they might come off too easy in the wash!

Doctors and homemade baby food...

So today I took my sweet little 1 year old to the doctors. I really liked this guy when we went in the first time because she had some serious exema around 8 months old. He was fine, nice, gave us some vitamin drops because we dont like to use boxed baby cereal, and some cream and sent us on our way. The next encounter at the 9 month check up, not so much,..... He told me my daughter needed to start cutting her calories... he even wrote it on her footprint page they send home for the baby book! This made me mad. She was nursing and eating only vegtables with a fruit maybe once a day and some yogert. (maybe a little cereal) Cutting her calories would mean to basically stop feading her? I didnt get it.

So today at our visit he told me she didnt need the vitamin drops her had given her, and acted really weird about why I made my own baby food. I dont go all out- I feed her fortified cereals once and a while as desert if she isnt full, but how hard is it to mash up some fruits and vegtables to feed my child, rather than open up a jar. I guess people have their different oppinions, but when we were on vacation and using 6 jars of baby food a day, at nearly $1 each... well that is just nuts to me! My baby not only enjoys foods they dont even think of putting out as baby food (broccoli, asparaga, brussel sprouts, lima beans.) But she is eating healthier and SO much cheaper in the process!

Anyway- enough with my rant. I just think it is funny that even doctors some times dont get it! Oh well, I am glad she eats finger foods exclussivly now! Yipee for being a big girl!!

I have heard of kids having to be forced to eat their first birthday cake....

Apparently not mine........

Baby's first birthday!

It is my baby's first birthday tomarro! We will be busy having lots of parties, eating too many sweets, too much cake and opening lots of fun toys! I will be back to normal on Monday! Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Hair Bows

Read the bottom for giveaway info!!!

When I was pregnant, we were hopeing for a boy. When we found out we were having a girl, neither of us was thrilled at first- but we quickly warmed up to the idea! I decided that my daughter would not likley follow my lead with the 'not having any hair until she is 2' thing..... well she did, but that isnt the point. ANyway- I decided I wanted to make some hair bows! You would think this would be easily acomplished by looking on the internet- well not so much!! SO here I will put up a little Tutorial so you too can make your own easy and beautiful hair bows! (Hobby Lobby has ribbon on sale right now 50% off! SO go get started!!

All you need is:

*a spool of ribbon (I like to keep it on the spool so that I can just cut as much as I need when I need it.)

*a hair clippy ( I personally use the 40 pack of plastic barretts from the dollar store- they work much better in my DD's fine hair. You can also use aligator clips, regular clip or hair bow clips.)

*A needle and thread.

* A hot glue gun and glue.

Start off by taking your ribbon in your left hand and making a loop. (bring the ribbon end to the front.)

Next, take the bottom (long side) of the ribbon and make another loop meeting the first in the middle.

Continue to do this until you have 6 loops. (Some bows you will want 4, some 6 and some 8, But I usually do 6)

Once you have 6 loops, squeeze it in the middle. Take your needle and thread and starting at the bottom, make about 4 stitches, making sure that each of the ribbon peices is attatched in at least one stitch.

Cut off extra ribbon. (make sure you have enough at the end that it was also sewn in!

Pull the thread and make the middle kind of scrunch together. Then take your thread and wrap it around the center of the bow about 4 times. Tie a knot, but dont cut the thread. Set bow aside.

Take a smaller peice of ribbon- still attatched to the spool, and tie it in a knot.

Now put the knot onto the top of the best looking side of the bow. cut the tails so they barely overlap in back. Take your needle and thread and sew the two ends together.

Now all you have to do is put a little glue onto your barette (You could wrap it in ribbon if you have an aligator clip). Just put a lot of glue onto the actual barette and then push the bow on top- all done!!

See- SO easy! You dont have to buy $5 a peice bows when you can buy a whole spool of ribbon and make a whole set!

While I am having so much fun though- I am going to do a giveaway! Leave me a comment with your email addy and which bow is your favorate, (or what color you would prefer if you dont like any of them.....) and I will send you a pigtail set! (2 bows!) Its as easy as that!!!