Cutting Brownies

My friend Diana recently shared a nice little tip with me.

"If you want clean cut brownies, cut them while they are WARM and use a PLASTIC knife.

I think everyone has gone through the discouragement of having ugly edged brownies, after cutting them with a regular butter-knife. Switch to the plastic, my friends."

Special thanks to Diana for sharing the love of nicely cut brownies!

Child Medicine Dossage

A dosage chart for children medicine by weight is super helpful to have when the little ones are sick. We have a copy printed off and in an accessible place. If you don't have one already, there you go! Also on the link there are hints for you involving fevers. It seems that my children have been sick since it got cold. Not very fun, but I have been so thankful to have this dosage chart handy!

Hard Boiled Eggs

I know it seems pointless to blog some hints about hard boiling an egg, after all, its not rocket science. How hard can it be??

Well, its not that hard but I find these tips helpful when boiling my eggs.

If you fill the pan with cold water then add the eggs and put on the stove, the eggs will be MUCH easier to peal once cooked.

And if you don't have a helpful egg timer of some sort and want to know if your egg is hard inside, remove and egg and lay it on its side like so


then spin it like a top. If it is hard inside, it will spin quickly, if it is still soft inside, it will wobble and not spin very well.

Happy Hard Boiling!

To be a Mother

As every mother knows, there are ups and downs with parenting. My friend directed me to this fabulous blog, of a wonderful woman named Jane who is a mother of 11. Other mothers write her with questions about parenting and then she replies on her blog. I have read only a few letter replies and I am hooked.
Have a problem with one of your kids and want advice from an expert? Drop Jane a line. :)

Free Internet Filter

For those of you who have children, there is no reason or excuse to not have an Internet filter if they use the computer. For those of you who don't have children, you should have certain things blocked while you use the Internet, because no matter what your age, some things are simply inappropriate.
K9 Web Protection is a FREE Internet filter. It is our favorite! You can block whole categories, like alternative s*xuality, gambling, pornography, adult/mature content, violence, nudity, etc.

After hearing a very sad story of a young 12 year old boy having problems that I'm sure could have been prevented or at least helped with an Internet filter, I encourage all of you to download the K9 filter. If not for your children, then for you!

Cleaning the Microwave

How many of you hate to scrub your microwave? I feel like there can be much time spent scrubbing with little result. THAT IS until I learned the easiest way to clean a microwave oven.

In a microwave safe bowl put some water and some lemon juice (a table spoon or two). Heat in your microwave to a boil, 2-3 minutes. The citric acid from the lemon juice will loosen the grease and residue. I tired this and just whipped the microwave clean with a warm wet wash cloth. This method works so well! Try it and you will see. :)

Great deal on Toy Story!

Alrighty, I found this info on another site, but since I don't have time to retype the info in my own words and want you all to get this information before the sale is over, I'll site where I got it... here. Everything that was on here site is here on this site.

Read below for the info and follow the directions. The sale ends today, March 27th.

As you may know, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be released on Tuesday, March 23rd! To get ready for this upcoming release you’ll want to print a couple great coupons. Just head on over to Disney Movie Rewards and login or register for an account. After doing so, enter this code 786936294507 in the orange box that states “Enter Code” in the middle of the right side of the page. You will then be able to click on a link to print a coupon valid for $10 off Toy Story Blu-ray / DVD Combo pack. After printing that coupon (you should be able to print twice by hitting you browser back button), enter this code 786936294521 to print a coupon valid for $10 off Toy Story 2 Blu-ray / DVD Combo pack!

..AND get this, not ONLY can you use these sweet coupons to score an awesome deal…. BUT each Toy Story Blu-ray / DVD Combo pack will contain a movie ticket (valued up to $8.50) to see Toy Story 3 in June!

So where’s the best place to snatch this movie up when it’s released on Tuesday?! Well, it appears to be Toys R Us. They will be offering up the Toy Story and Toy Story 2 Blu-Ray/DVD combo packs for just $16.99 each when you buy both in the same transaction.

Toys R Us Deal Scenario:
Toy Story Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack $16.99
Toy Story 2 Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack $16.99
Total = $33.98
Use two $10/1 coupons from above
Pay $13.98
PLUS, then you’ll have 2 FREE Movie Tickets (valued at up to $8.50 each)!!

Know that Walmart, Best Buy, and Target all price match if your Toys R Us is out of the movies, make a few calls before you leave to go buy them to find a store that still has them. I had to price match at Target.