Frozen Yogurt Dots

I came across this awesome idea on Pinterest! The kids don't really like yogurt by itself even though it is really good for them, they will eat frozen yogurt, but only because I tell them it is ice cream (Yes I lie to the children). I always buy yogurt when it is on sale for $1.00 and rarely will it get eaten so when I found this I could not resist trying the idea out and seeing if the kids would eat it. I happened to have three kinds on hand (It was on sale last week at No frills) strawberry, peach and raspberry. The strawberry and the peach both a pieces of while fruit in them which was a minor inconvenience.

Items needed:

Pastry bag or sandwich bag
Your choice of yogurt (It is easier to with no fruit chunks)
Cookie sheet (or other flat surface)
Wax paper
Scissors
Spoon
Small snack bags (or another container)

Directions:

Line your cookie sheet or other flat surface with the wax paper.
Fill your pastry or sandwich bag with your yogurt using the spoon.
Cut the end of the bag open just a little bit creating a "tip".
Gently squeeze "dots" on to the wax lined cookie tray.
Place the cookie tray into the freezer for at least 1 hour.
Place dots into small snack bags and put into the freezer.

These are simple to make and taste great. The kids loved them and so did I. The snack bags make it easy to grab and snack on something healthy.

Yogurt

Yogurt in pastry bag with tip cut.

Dots on the cookie sheet before freezing. 

Dots on cookie sheet after freezing.

In a snack bag ready to be eaten.

I hope you and family enjoy these as much as we do!!

Here is the link to the pin http://pinterest.com/pin/24347654207630527/

Window Wipes

I love to save money anywhere I can, but then again who doesn't  Homemade cleaning products is one of the best ways to help save money in your home.

I came across these window wipes, they have other wipes posted; however, I have not tried them yet. At first I was worried they were going to cause streaks I HATE STREAKS. These really work, and they are super easy to make. I made enough to give my sister half the batch. I had one lysol wipe container waiting to go out for the blue box so I used that to store the wipes in. Its great because you can pull one out at a time.

I buy my lysol wipes and paper towels at Costco, so it is the big lysol wipes container I used.

This is the instructions I have copied and pasted them from the pin which I will include at the bottom.

Ingredients 

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
• 1/2 cup vinegar

Directions

Mix together 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of rubbing alcohol and a ½ cup of vinegar. You are going to mix it all together, then pour it on your wipes, remove the paper towel center. Then you can just lift your wipes from the middle.

They have lasted a long time a few months (I do not wash my windows everyday) 

This is a before picture. See all my dog snots!

This is an after picture. No more dog snots!

As I said here is the link to the pin on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/24347654207066821/

Changing...Again

While lately I have been addicted to Pinterest it is a website that has millions (I am sure a whole lot more) of "pins" each pin is either just a picture or linked to a website with instructions on how to do or make a wide variety of items, or even just tips. Well it has pretty much everything lol. I have been trying different thing on the site and posting pictures and if it worked or not on facebook. I am happy to say that so far all but one of the "pins" has worked. I have decided that I am going to add this aspect to my blog. I know over the years I have added many things, Owen, crocheting, personal stuff, cakes etc. So now this is just one more thing to blog about and I am going to do my best to blog at least once a day. 

I have been having a blast trying new things from Pinterest there are so many great ideas and tips to try out.

I hope that those who started to follow my blog when it was mostly about Owen will continue to follow me. I will of course still post about my son whom I love with all my heart, think about on a daily basis and of course see as much as possible. He is growing and loves that I am his "special friend", I love that as well. It gives the special bond we share a name. 

Keira's 7th Birthday!!!

I planned, and did everything for my nieces 7th birthday. I was so excited for her. Of course she wanted Hello Kitty, which by the way you can not find anything Hello kitty for birthday parties in Sarnia I had to go to London to get everything for it!

She wanted it at the Movie theater; however, there were no kids movies playing at all on the date we wanted to hold her birthday, so the next choice was swimming at the YMCA well turns out you can not so a swim party at the YMCA unless you are 10+, in the end we ended up going with Hi-way bowl. I will never ever have another birthday party at the Hiway bowl. The staff was rude, the kids were not allowed refills on their drinks, no outside food or drinks expect for the cake, Richard was not even allowed to drink his coffee in the party room, and they played kids dance music, but got mad when they started to dance (BTW we had the bowling alley to ourselves so it was not like they were bugging anyone.

Keira loved her party, I made the cake of course, and her hair bows for the party! She had so much fun her only complaint was 2 hours was not long enough lol. We had an awesome face painter from the Painted Cat!!!

Baby Shower Cake

I was asked by a wonderful young lady that I have known for many many years I watched her grow up at the trailer park. She is now 19 and expecting her first child which she is very excited about. The baby shower cake she had choose was a jungle theme. The cake did not ask for 3D animals but I decided they would be fun to try and they were I really enjoyed making them! The cake itself did not turn out as I hoped but it is okay and I am improving with each and every cake I make.

New Years 2012

I had a quite relaxing new years eve it was great lol. I watched movies and ate snack food. I decided that the only new years resolution I was going to make was to save twice as many dogs as I did last year.
I didn't make any selfish resolutions that I would end up breaking I made one that helps animals.

This past year has had many ups and downs. I miscarried new years eve 2011, Richard left for Regina for 9 months, I miscarried in April, I left FGDR, I started volunteering for Wallaceburg Animal Shelter, I helped save 12 dogs by fostering. I helped save many lives by cross posting, helping with fundraisers, grooming and taking photos of dogs for the shelter.
Working in rescue has left me honored with many friends who also work in rescue. I have learned it takes a special, strong and big hearted person to do what we all do on a daily bases. We watch dogs we can not save be killed and we cry for them, we watch dogs we can save go to warm loving forever homes and we cry for them, we fight for their rights and well being and we cry when they are treated like objects, we fight and care and give until we feel like we can do no more then we cry and start all over again. Each live we watch go from a sad, scared life and grow into a loving caring forever friend makes all the tears worth it.

This past year has taught me how strong I truly am, how I can make a difference, and brought Keira and James closer to me so I can make a difference in their lives.

This new year starts with promises of great and wonderful things for the shelter, the rescue, the children, and myself I just hope I am ready for all life has to bring my way good and bad!

Christmas 2012

Yes I know it is almost a month late, but things have been extremely busy. I had a wonderful visit with my son. (pictures to come later) We had a quite Christmas this year as it was the first year without Richards mom so it was hard on all of us, especially Richard's dad.

We started to go through Richard's moms clothing etc. Richard's dad had been pushing for it and I think it needed to be done in order for him to move forward with his life.

Keira and James both had an awesome Christmas they got all kinds of gifts and we took them around to see the lights and the live nativity scene. Now I am not a religious person by any means. I respect all peoples religion and their right to practice as they see fit as long as it is doing no harm to anyone else. Keira and James lack of knowing anything about "Jesus" or anything religion based hit me hard. They believe that Christmas is just about presents nothing else. I do not believe that it is the birth of "Jesus" but I do believe that it is a time for community and family etc. I decided that the best way to teach the children about religions, being spiritual, respecting others for their beliefs  and a since of community that there are bigger and more important things then them, that they need to look beyond themselves.
So we decided that in the new year we would find a church that would work for us. I figured this was going to be a challenge as I struggle with most religious beliefs. I went to a Baptist as a young child, I attended a public elementary school, and a catholic high school. I believe in the earth, karma, nature etc. I was raised that no matter what someones beliefs are they have a right to respect and live as they choose as long as it brings no harm to anyone else. I strongly believe that each person follows the path that they need to in order to find inner piece.

Anyway Christmas was great everyone made it through in one piece lol. We had no snow until Christmas eve which was a wonderful treat for the kids.

I hope all of my readers had a wonderful holidays and they got to spend it doing what they love most!