Category Archives: Planners/oganization

WFMW ~ April Fools cake

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This Tuesday is April Fools Day, yippeeeeeeeee!!!!   Last year, I made April Fools cupcakes with the same recipe.  This year I will be making a cake to trick my wonderful boys who just love to play tricks on me. Paybacks! We will be having a delicious cake for dinner.  SHHHHHH!  Don’t tell them what my delcious cakes contains….

ingredients for the Meat Loaf

2 pounds lean ground beef

3 large eggs

1 cup bread crumbs

2/3 cup sliced green onions

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

3 large garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For the Decoration

1 jar (12 ounces) roasted red peppers, drained and patted dry

3 1/2 cups hot mashed potatoes

8 cherry tomatoes, stems removed
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Baking Time: 20-25 minutes
Serves 8

Directions
Preparing the Meat Loaf
1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, green onions, milk, parsley, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper just until blended.

2. Divide mixture between two 8-inch round cake pans, patting to cover pans evenly and make level.

3. Bake meat loaves until juices run clear when meat is pierced with a fork, or meat loaves register 170F on a meat thermometer, 20-25 minutes. Remove pans from the oven; cover loosely with foil and let stand for 10 minutes.

Decorating the Meat Loaf
1. Pour off juices from pans. Invert 1 meat loaf onto a flat serving plate. Using a small sharp knife, trim red peppers so that they lie flat. Cover top of meat loaf with a single layer of roasted red peppers.

2. Invert second meat loaf onto red pepper layer. Using a spatula, spread 2 1/2 cups mashed potatoes over top and sides of meat loaf. Spoon remaining potatoes into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe swirls around top edges of cake. Pipe stars around bottom of cake.

3. Place cherry tomatoes, stem-ends down, in a ring around top of meat loaf “cake” to resemble cherries. Cut meat loaf into wedges; serve immediately.

Per serving: 354 Cal.; 26g Protein; 13g Fat; 34g Carb.; 845mg Sodium; 117mg Chol.; 1g Fiber

Village Tip
Let the meat loaves stand for 10 to 15 minutes after baking to allow them to set; this will make them easier to remove from the pan.

Look what works for other bloggy sisters at Rocksinmydryer.

WFMW ~ Maintaining Baby Book

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Keeping up with all my 5 boys firsts used to be quite a  challenge until I came up and actually implemented one of my brilliant ideas…  LOL!
Keep a blank Monthly calendar on your refrigerator.  I just printed one off the computer.  Print here.
Each time your child does something remarkable, just jot it down on the easy accessible calendar and place calendar in baby book after each month or whenever.    You can always transfer info into baby book when you get a chance.  I printed off all 12 months so I didn’t have to worry about printing the calendar each month.
It worked wonders for me.  For more brilliant ideas, click on Rocksinmydryer.

WFMW ~ organizing games

This is more of a WILL work for me Wednesday.  wfmwsmall1.jpgI came up with this idea after co-teaching in our gaming class during our home school co-op.  You know, they just don’t make game boxes like they used to.  The corners are always crushing causing all the game pieces to fall out and disappear.  Also, if your family loves games and has just about every game available and lacks the space…..Then, this plan will work for you.  You haven’t seen my huge disastrous game closet, yet.  We have a sign posted saying….Beware…..Open at your own risk.  Hard Hat required.

So, here is the brilliant organizing tip….

1.  go to dollar store and purchase 1 or 2 well sized plastic crates or baskets ~ whatever suits your fancy.  Invest in sandwich size zip lock plastic baggies.

2. Place all pieces of each game in a ziplock baggy ~ label with sharpie.  Note…1 baggie per game or this could result in a migraine.

3.  Use a label maker or masking tape to label the back of the playing boards.

4.  Stack all boards on top of each other and place all baggies with playing pieces in the plastic container or baskets.

Talk about saving space or what….Also, no more broken game boxes..

So, that is my brilliant idea for this week…..  Now, I need to practice what I preach and go the the dollar store and purchase some plastic containers.

For more WFMW visit Don’t try this at home.

WFMW ~ sites that are offer things for free!

My favorite way to shop is on-line.  wfmwsmall.jpgHowever, the only way that I truly like to shop is only when it’s free.  So, this week at WFMW ,  we are to post  our favorite on-line shopping site.  And mine is Amazon.  And you haven’t heard of that, right? So, since I always like to be a tad different, I am listing a few of my favorite sites that offer things for free.  Free is always good, huh!

Cindy’s Porch ~ great site with lots of great ideas to save, budget, and spend less.

Homeschool Launch ~ tons of great stuff

823 Free Forms~ You will be in heaven if your a form fanatic like me

Old Fashioned Education ~ a whole curriculum for FREE

Free Christian Books on-line

Desiring God ~ more free Christian books on-line

Children  books on-line

HomeschoolEstore ~ free Valentines pages.  Each week they offer something for free

Free Woman’s Bible Study

Woman of Excellence ~ free wonderful bible study

Free Journal Pages for kids ~ great way to get your kiddos to write

Free Phonic posters

Free Spelling Course

Jan Brett ~ lots of free stuff for teachers

More Phonic Blend flashcards

Free Unit Studies

EasyFunSchool ~ more free unit studies

Creation Kids ~ great for preschoolers or Kindergarteners

Free Crochet Patterns

A Little bit of everything 

Crafty Town

Free Vintage Patterns

Crochet N more

All Freebie Stuff

Thunderfap

Free Stuff ~ free items posted daily

As you can tell, I am a free junkie!  Please feel free (there’s that word, again!) to leave a comment with some of your favorite free sites!

Homemade with love 2007 ~ clipboards

You have gotta go check out KissesofSunshine for loads of homemade gift ideas.  This is the second year she is hosting Homemadewithlove.  Check out all the ideas from last year, too.  Cool, huh!

I made these last year for everybody ~ I customized them to fit each individuals interest. I think they were a big hit! Very inexpensive ~ especially if you are one of those obsessed scrapbook queens.

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First, go to Walmart and buy a .99 basic clipboard in the office supply section.

2. Decide on a theme ~ use stickers, scrapbook paper, and acrylic paint.

3. Paint entire clipboard with acrylic paint except for the metal part. Let Dry. Might want to add second coat. Since, I am impatient I used my blow dryer to speed up the drying time.

4. Decide if you want to use some scrapbook paper or not. This clipboard I did not, but when I do, I usually leave a border so the paint will show. Then I use Mod podge on both sides.

5. Add stickers or die cuts if you want

6. Then I use Mod podge on both sides. PLEASE NOTE ~ put on very very light ~ if you put it on too thick it will bubble up the paper. Let dry.

7. Then you can add any sort of doo dad. I added sticky notes ~ apply with gorilla glue.

8. I add ribbon, yard, fuzzy stuff or whatever I have to decorate the metal clip part. Then, I add a pen and tie it with string/yarn to the metal part.

I must admit this clipboard is by far not the most creative one I have made. It was very simple. The creative ideas are enormous ~

These are just a few that I made the last year..

Teacher one ~ with teacher theme

Army theme

basketball theme

baby shower theme

bug theme one

Texas theme

All you homeschool carschool Moms that have clipboards in your car for each one of your children ~ these are perfect. OK ~ since you never do school other than at the kitchen table everyday on schedule then maybe you could make them for your friend’s kiddos that aren’t as punctual or organized as you. LOL!!!!!

fall giveaway

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This is a decorative clipboard that I made for this fun fall give away. Please be kind and leave a just one comment with your blog site and your email address if you are interested in winning the clipboard.

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Thank you Shannon for hosting this fun bloggy giveaway. I am so excited. Maybe this time I might win something!!! YIPpEE! Happy Fall Y’all!!!

Organzing my closets…..

This week we have been off school.  We are starting back 3x per week next Tuesday.  My goal this week was to tackle my closet, hall/game closets, and all the boys closets.  It is so overwhelming to me.  YIKES!!!!!!!  Especially when I am well aware that they will be a disaster before the day is over.  I was blog surfing this morning and stumbled across this article.

I just might need to make a trip to the dollar store before I tackle my 2 oldest’s closet today.  I love the 4 bin idea, too.