Happy Housewives Club

Cabin fever kids

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:30:45 +0000

Looking for something to entertain the kids when it’s raining or too cold to go outside? Crafts can keep kids busy for hours- and best of all, can be educational. There are crafts you can make with kids of all age groups, from preschoolers through grade school.

Clear your kitchen table off and gather some basic supplies- it’s time to get crafting!

Popular Crafts for Preschoolers

Before getting started making crafts, gather all the supplies! As your preschooler is running around the house, go on a search for paper, glue, crayons and safety scissors. Child crafts can make use of nontraditional items as well, so look for empty shampoo or dish soap bottles, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, string, shoe boxes and paper bags. Let your imagination be your guide.

Crafts for preschoolers should be fairly simple to make, as well as quick in order to hold their attention. Help them make binoculars from toilet paper rolls, or puppets from old socks and markers. Add yarn hair. A favorite child craft of many children is creating “yarn masterpieces”. Give your child glue and different colored pieces of yarn. Let the child place glue all over their paper (glue sticks work great for this project) and then lay out pieces of yarn over the glue in whatever shape they want! It’s like painting with yarn.

Crafts for Older Children

As children get older, they are capable of more detailed crafts. Let grade school children create a city out of cardboard boxes. Flatten a box or two to create the city “ground”, and using smaller boxes, like juice boxes, egg cartons, and construction paper, let your child build a city. Draw roads with markers, make trees and houses. Drive matchbox cars through the city, or make your own cars out of egg cartons or other objects.

And who doesn’t love macaroni necklaces.

Create musical instruments with coffee cans, and elbow macaroni. Just wear your iPod and you won’t hear a thing! Make your own bubble solution with equal parts dish soap and water, and let your kids blow bubbles in the bathtub for a special treat, especially since now that they are covered in glue and yarn!

Getting Ready for Tax Time

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:00:15 +0000

2011 tax documents are starting to arrive. Getting organized now can save you time, and reduce stress as you prepare to file. Here are some simple categories to group your tax information. Use an expandable file, or a three-ring binder with pocket folders to order your information so that filing will be a breeze.

Earned Income – Keep year-end pay stubs, and W-2s together.

Interest/Dividend Income – Keep all 1099s and records of dividend and interest from your bank accounts and investments.

Mortgage/Taxes - Keep your annual interest statements from your mortgage payment and property tax information in one folder.

Write-offs/Deductions - Break out charitable donations (cash and donated items), and any business-related write-offs into separate folders (this would also include child-care expenses).
Medical- Keep all insurance expenses and out-of-pocket medical costs together.

Past Tax Issues – Compile what federal or state income taxes you paid or were reimbursed for, keep a file of any advance payments you made, and also hold on to any communications with the IRS or state revenue service.

Student Loans - Retain statements of loan interest you have paid for 2008.

Miscellaneous – Any item you need to ask your accountant about should be filed here.

Putting this system in place now will ensure that your documents will be in order when you need them.

Kid Kabobs

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:00:14 +0000

This week’s easy kid snack is perfect for all ages and all kids (even the picky ones).

Ingredients

cubed cheese
any fruit cut into cubes
any small round fruit like berries and grapes
any other small foods-mini Nilla wafers, pretzel twists, Triscuits, etc
Wood skewers (which can be washed and re-used)

Give your kids a butter knife and let them cut the cheese and fruit into pieces. For little bitties, cut the pieces for them and let them build the kabobs. To make the kabobs, teach them how to hold their hands to avoid stabbing themselves! Let them make only as many as your family will eat because you don’t want browning fruit later. Put the leftovers in sealable containers to make again tomorrow. Bon Appetit!

It sucks getting old

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:08:33 +0000

Today as I was sitting at a red light I looked in my rear view mirror and I saw a long one inch grey hair popping out of my eybrow. What on earth??? OMG! Is this the beginning? Are grey hairs going to start popping out all over my body? What’s next? I am frightened to think about it. And while I am thrilled to be alive, I am very vain, and growing older just sucks! I hate that I cannot wear mini skirts. I hate that when I get ‘all hottied up’ younger guys look at me and think I am a pathetic cougar trying to look 18. I hate that I have to watch what I eat and then work out three times harder than I did ten years ago. It pisses me off that I cannot eat a bowl full of chips and dip. And it really drives me crazy knowing that I am 5 years to 50! I am not going down without living it up. The way I see it, hey, I have it pretty good. And why shouldn’t I enjoy it. So, I will never be the hottest ass at the party again. But to my husband I have a pretty hot ass. Instead of thinking the best years of of my life are over, I am looking forward to what’s next. And I thank GOD that I am still here, greys, cellulite, and all.

I don’t know how she does it!

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:21:23 +0000

So did you see this movie? In ‘I Don’t Know How She Does It,’ Jessica Parker plays a super mom doing it all. She has a high powered career in finance, two babies, a nice Boston home, and a cutie pie hubby. I thought it was a cute movie. But I became very irritated at the moron director and ignorant writer who portrayed the stay at home moms in the movie as complete airheads. One SAHM was at the gym working out and she said she gets there every day at 7:45 and leaves at around 2pm. Really? Do any of you know any SAHMs who have the time for that? In the movie Sarah’s character has to travel a lot. She leaves her children. Her daughter resents it. Her baby is just two-years-old. And yet, she is sleeping in NY, going out to dinner with her boss, and while they show her feeling a little guilty, they are sure to point out how much she loves her career. In the end she finds a way to not work on the weekends and tell her boss no to going on last minute trips. Hooray for her! It is so much more important I think to give the best years of your baby’s life to your boss. Parker does say in the end, “There will always be another big deal but not another first haircut.” And she is right about that.

The Gluten Free confusion!

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:25:13 +0000

Okay so for the past few years more and more people are realizing they have Celiacs and are going gluten free. Many mothers of autistic children are also going gluten free. Basically gluten is a glue additive that holds food together that is added to the food products you buy. This gluten free Celiacs thing pisses me off. I have read everything there is to read on it. And while I believe many people do become very sick from gluten, this is another man made disease that we have created. No one in 1900 had Celiacs. Let me tell you why. Back then our farmers grew our corn and wheat in nutrient rich fields and the children ate fresh breads their mothers baked from scratch from the flower made from those fields. Skip to 2000 when our farmers began genetically altering the seeds. Skip to an America where the farms have been over used and there are no nutrients left in the ground. Skip to a government that allows these boxed foods to include glue, and other ingredients our bodies cannot digest or tolerate simply so they can sit on the shelf for 8 months. Skip to a diet consisting of mostly boxed foods and sugar. Skip to a generation of immunity that is nutritionaly depleted. And what do you have, fibromyalgia, celiacs, and a host of other immunity insufficient people. Look at the rise in autism alone. But back to gluten. So many people once diagnosed simply buy gluten free cookies and chicken nuggets. And they are still sick. The idea is that these people need fresh fruit such as apples and berries, cruciferous vegitables such as broccoli and spinach, and homemade, old fashioned cooked dinners. People also think they need to switch to all organic. Organic is great. But it is not the total answer either. You can eat organic chips and organic cookies too. The idea is to get off of anything that is boxed. Do not eat it. To clean your body to cleanse your system you need to go raw and fresh. Today because of all the genetically altered beans and grains, our bodies cannot tolerate and digest them and they cause havoc and cancer. So some items I do encourage you buy organic such as flour, cereal, nuts, beans, breads, meat and dairy. There is no nutritional value in commercial milk. It has been boiled, pasturized, and now zapped with radiation before you even drink a glass. Then they fortify it. Drink water. If you can try to buy raw milk from your local farm or non pasturized organic milk. As for the meat, the commercial meat is currently being zapped with radiation before you can eat it. These assaults on our bodies over and over, attack our immunity and make us weak. So if you can, buy local fresh meat from a local farmer. Or buy organic meat. But cut down on the meat. As for the veggies, try to buy local over even organic. Find your local farms and go to them. Eat fresh spinach, and fresh green lettuce every day. Eat an apple every day. And if you have had antibiotics in your life take probiotics. You must get the healthy flora back into your intestines or your body will be toxic and you will not get better. Once your intestinal tract is good, and you are eating raw and fresh, and you cut out the boxed and fake, your body will recover and you will not have celiacs.

Paula Deen proof you just can’t eat a stick of butter every day!

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:59:37 +0000

I love Paula Deen but just like Elvis, her favorite man, your ways are gonna catch up with you. You just can’t eat a stick of butter every day and deep fry all your food. Diabetes 2 is caused eating badly. There are thousands of studies that prove diabetes 2 is brought on from high intake of trans fats. On the good side, you can completely cure yourself from diabetes 2 through changing your diet. After a lifetime of deep fried fatty foods it will take some time for Paula or anyone to clean out their body from this abuse, but her way is the way of so many. Let’s face it, who doesn’t love a chicken fried steak topped off with key lime pie. But these treats should be saved for a blue moon. Stuffing our faces for pleasure just has to stop. Never mind the fact that one third of Americans are OBESE, the bigger problem is really, do you want to drop dead for cheesecake? I just don’t see how it’s worth it. A new study shows that by 2030 over 500 million Americans will have diabetes. It is going to take over as the number one cause of death in America. We just have to change the way we think.

From L

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:23:00 +0000

I just joined ur email list and I admire u for this last email. Please keep them coming makes us feel normal. We don’t need advice its a since of reality check for us. Work on u and ur husband and forget about the teens. They will come back around in their later years trust me! God bless u and ur family!

From A

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:22:20 +0000

That just broke my heart. I realize that this doesn’t offer total peace for you at the moment BUT …..what are WE doing wrong. Remember, it takes a village to raise a child just too bad the village does not accept that role anymore. They are suffering in silence like you. Because we no longer have that “universal front” in either our family and within our community. There’s so much “stuff” out there to ruin our kids, emotionally, physically and it’s a smorgasbord of wrong doing! It’s proven that all kids yearn for guidance and discipline but when parents are collectively out there flaling for help and some answers. It is partially our fault that these spoiled brates were created by our lack of discipline early on because we WANT to be their friends instead of playing their role as parents. Since this situation is not uncommon (at all) we must start all over beginning with focus and support groups at school, church etc. Youre genuinely disgusted guilty(for whatever reason), hurt, lost and alone. Take that energy today and begin to spearhead a group to share, support etc. remember that when feeling bad turn your attention on helping others and life and kids ain’t so intolerable

I’ll sign up for your group! Good luck and my prayers are said for you today.

Sweet Potato Muffins

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:15:55 +0000

Written by Happy Housewife Beth

2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar (I always cut back on the sugar)
1 cup fresh mashed sweet potato (you can peel and boil the potatoes until soft, or bake, then mash)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil)
1/4 cup water
1 2/3 cup flour (I like to substitiute my flours. For this recipe I use 2/3 cup millet and 1 cup kamut flour. You must refrigerate the mufins if you use these flours.)
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) (I love pecans in this recipe!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine eggs, sugar, sweet potato, oil and water in a medium bowl. In a seperate bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and spices. Add dry ingredients to wet. Stir to blend. Add nuts. Pour batter 3/4 full into greased muffin tins. (You can use cupcake liners. Try to find the unbleached ones.) Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy!