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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Some of my fav youtubers and a little about working from home!

Hey there all you busy readers! lol I will keep this one short n sweet.. I just wanted to let you know what I have been up to over the past few days I haven't written.... First I went and took a GIANT step and got my hair cut! My sweeties mom does a fantastic job with cuts n color! So i went for it... (Pics later in the week ) She also gave me a beautiful color too, I tried doing it myself for the umpteenth time and it got waaaaaay to dark (as usual) When will I learn lol So, I now have a very short, cropped , layered cut with beautious color and highlights! The cut has taken me some time to get used to but it is growing on me and I am starting to love it! After all Its just hair right!? I think after it grows a bit I will love it even more and it is SOOOO easy to do! If any of you keep up with Aprils Life on youtube, that is the look I was going for , I LOVE watching her families vlog and her hair vlog as well! I will post links for you here so you too can follow and see what I mean! I stumbled across them one day and I couldn't stop watching! I can totally relate to them and their kids are sooo cute and fun to watch too! I am sure they wont see this since I am just a newbie to this whole thing but If you do... HEY April and Davey!! I LOVE your family! :) (ok now I seem like some weird stalker lol Weird yes, stalker no haha here are the links to their vlogs at least I think that's what they-re called , see I told you I am NEW :P So, yeah anyway here are the links to head over and check them out! https://www.youtube.com/user/AprilShowrz  and here is her amazing hair vlog! I have already learned so much from her!  -https://www.youtube.com/user/CuteHair101Class

One last thing I want to touch on today-- Is I know ALOT of stay at home moms (and dads) are looking to work from home so they can be there for their kids, I know I did and I have worked for some of the companies I will talk about in a later post.. BUT I share this website alot with friends looking for help.. it has a ton of info from work at home job, to starting your own business.. Check it out and I hope it helps you like it did for me! Here it is and there will be another future post with more info for you on this topic as well so stay on the lookout! :) http://www.wahm.com/forum/vendor_directory.php
 On That not I will leave you to go ahead and start watching Aprils youtube vids and check out all that info on WAHMs! Hope you all are having a great week!! We are half way to Friday!!

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Recipes!

Black Raspberry Custard 

 This is a Family favorite feel free to share!

1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter 
4 eggs 
4 tablespoons four
1 quart milk (4 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla 

Cream butter, add sugar, flour and eggs. Add milk . Line 2 p inch pie pans with unbaked pastry.
Pour in custard mixture .Pour in raspberrys to cover the top of custard
Bake @ 450 for 10  minutes then turn heat to 325 for another 4o minutes ( with my oven it is more like an hour)
Enjoy! :)

Crockpot mac n cheese
The kids LOVE this one!

2 cups uncooked elbow macoroni (an 8 ounce box isn't quite 2 cups)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter , cut into pieces
2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) grated sharp cheddar cheese
3 eggs beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Boil the macaroni in a 2 quart saucepan in plenty of water until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain.. In a medium saucepan mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. In a crock pot combine cheese/butter mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper and stire well. Then add the drained macaroni and stir again. Set the crock pot on low setting and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
Enjoy!

 Hamburger bbq
(Serves 12)

3 lbs hamburger
3 tablsepoons vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons mustard 
dash of salt and pepper
Sprinkle of parsley flakes
2 big onions- chopped small

Mix liquid ingredients first with brown sugar
Cook hamburger first then add in with ingredients.... add ketchup or water as needed
Simmer about a 1/2 hour STIR ALOT this burns quick..
ENJOY! We make this alot for birthday parties and other gatherings another kid fav!

 

Friday, July 10, 2015

Ramblings of a lupus flare

I want to start by apologizing lol this will be a long one... Wow, I had a terrible , like god awful, pity myself because I feel sooo freakin bad day... A day that brought me to tears and forced me to spend the entire day in bed... That my friends is what living with chronic illnesses is like and I get so beyond frustrated with myself on days like that..  I am a do-er , always have my mind on something and I just go for it. I LOVE helping others and I know that is what leads me to those god awful days like I had yesterday... not to mention the weather here... RAIN with a bad storm. I mean pouring buckets... (not real buckets, you know what I mean right haha)
I struggle with the realization that I am not "normal" I mean, really for those of you that have ever met me or know me you may be thinking..ummmm Were you EVER "normal" lol No not really BUT.... It just sucks big monkey balls to live with Lupus , fibromyalgia , copd and anxiety... I don't like to tell many about my struggles for fear that they will drift away , not wanting to deal or hear about it .. Oh well, that's not going to happen here lol My goal, well one of them for starting this blog is to reach out to those of you that are dealing with this as well, or caring for loved ones that suffer... We often suffer in silence and I am here to say SCREW that! We need all the love and support we can get right?!
  So, (are ya still with me) yesterday I crashed... I knew it was coming I mean I have been going non stop for months.. I help take care of my Disabled Mom so my amazing Dad can go do things sometimes. I run the kids around to football, the dreaded mall, for jink food halls to wal mart lol I am just always busy! Until.....BAM it all hits me... What do you do when you are in a flare up?
 I have read about Epsom salt baths really helping with soreness , here is a page I was reading up on about all the uses for Epsom Salt- http://www.naturallivingideas.com/20-epsom-salt-uses/ (  I am not even sure I just posted that link correctly lol Let me know If There's another way to do it please)!

I take prescription meds for pain but have been reading alot about essential oils lately too... Anyone use them?  I would love to take the epsom salt bath but, (and I will get more on this in another blog ) We are renovating this house... ughhh I say that because we have been working on it for 5 years! lol and we took the old bath tub out of the main bath and put in a stand up unit...WHY ohhh WHY did I decide to do that??  We do have a plan.... one of many .. to do a master bed and bath ... which I already got ahold of a big soaker tub ( garbage pickin! Yes I am a huge garbage picker , there's some of the not so glamorous for ya lol ) I mean this thing was in brand new condition so I had the older boys throw it in the truck and bring it home...with the quickness!
  Back to pain remedies---- Still with me?!?! Wow you're courageous! I am soo random and you will realize very quickly if you haven't already lol I will start another post within the next few days with a bunch of great home remedies for chronic pain, fatigue , etc I hope you can get use out of it and you find something in there that will help ease your pain... We spoonies have to stick together right?! :)

The point I wanted to get at here is On days when I am flaring that bad that my body just wont let me do anything.. I mean it takes all the energy out of me on those days just to get up and go to the bathroom... I want you to know it is perfectly OK to take those days for YOU! It is OK to ask for help. Especially if you have little ones running rampid trashing your house like mine used to ... why is that? The worse I feel the worse my kids used to behave! It is OK to let the dishes go once in a while or better yet ask you spouse to (please) do it today... I hope you have a supportive significant other that offers to do these things on bad days... that means ALOT! If you dont please by all means ASK someone for help! I am sure you'd be surprised how many friends and family members that know about your illness would love to help you!  If you dont have anyone nearby... Just LET IT BE... It took me a long time to shake the guilt of this one but , I didnt always have people that were eager to help me so I was mostly on my own with this struggle.. with young children running around... and you just need to stand up for yourself, say to yourself  "You know what this is OK, I need this time for ME... tomorrow is another day... "
 So, look at yourself int he mirror , say to yourself "I got this... Everything will be ok" and let it be...
It is so important for all of us to take a little time out for ourselves... whether its that bath, going in your room and just laying down reading your favorite book or whatever you like to do for YOU , even for an hour a day... It will help you feel so much better , relaxed and ready to tackle the hyper kids or hubbies! lol
Remember, Let it be and all will be ok! See you next time! Please If I havent annoyed you yet subscribe to this and share!  I will get better with the rambling on and I plan on sharing a ton of pics in the near future when I figure out how to! lol I look forward to getting to know every one of you!
Thank you for reading!

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Starting a new.....

So, I will begin by stating a little about myself.... I am a stay at home mom (I guess you figured that one out already huh?) ... They are my rocks!  (ok I will admit they are also the reasons for alot of my headaches too, I am a very honest person you will see I say whats on my mind and don't like to filter anything lol Yes, that at times can get me into small issues :p ...
  I have been through a LOT in my 39 years on this journey of Life though and If it weren't for my kids I have no idea where I would be right now. They are what has kept me going through many hardships and trials..and the wonderful moments as well!
Anyway... (I get side tracked easily can you tell and am quite random so hold on to your seats tryin to keep up with me lol)  I am here to have an outlet for all the many, many.....MANY things that go through this mind! lol I plan to talk about everything from cooking (or my many tries at creating new dishes, wait till you see what I get myself into)! Daily life with Teenagers, Hair! I LOVE hair! Haircuts, hair coloring, hair health ideas, you name it I am sure that one will be seen alot on here! I love sharing hair idea pics! I will also share some of my trials I face daily with trying to live a "normal life" with chronic illnesses. So, theres a short tidbet of some of the things I will share here and vent about.. I hope you can relate to my stories and I will even help some one with trials they too are facing, if not for anything but a chuckle here and there :) Hang in there I am sure I will get better at this as I go, I have so much to share and tell I hope you stick around with me through this new journey!
~Erin