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Should Kids Do Chores?
I think that everyone in the house should do chores or help to maintain the household. We have tried all kinds of systems over the last 20+ years. Our oldest is 24 and I am not sure exactly when he started helping out around the house, but do remember that our first formal chore chart with allowance tied to completion and behavior was at 5 years old. We gave him a quarter for each activity he completed up to $5 per week ($1 per year of age), but we also withheld a quarter if he misbehaved. I made a chore chart with simple tasks such as brushing his teeth, helping…
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Little Hamburgers in Gravy
This is an easy 3 ingredient main dish. We have been making them for years. I don’t remember where we got the recipe, but it is a family favorite. We make it every month or so. I don’t know what the real name should be, but we call it little hamburgers in gravy because that is what they look like. I assume one of the kids probably gave them the name and it stuck. It can even be made ahead of time and just finished off quickly when you are ready by making the gravy and heating the little hamburgers before serving. If making ahead of time, spread the patties…
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How to Plan a Tween Birthday Party
My daughter just turned 12 on Saturday. It was hard for her to decide how she wanted to celebrate her birthday this year. She is too old for the traditional kiddie birthday party, but still young enough to want to make it a big deal. She thought about going to the trampoline park or skating rink, but she also wanted all the family to be there. Since she is one of the youngest of her cousins most of them would not participate for jumping or skating. She thought about having a family party at a restaurant, but couldn’t decide on a restaurant and wanted to be able to invite friends…
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Skillet Onion Potatoes
I love potatoes. I love them fried, stewed, roasted, baked, mashed, and almost any way imaginable. If I had to pick one item to eat for the rest of my life, it would have to be potatoes. I cook some kind of potatoes for almost every meal. The potatoes are as important to me as the main dish, sometimes they are the main dish. I am fine with a loaded baked potato for a meal, but my husband thinks he needs at least 4-5 different items for each meal. I was craving my roasted onion potatoes the other day but didn’t want to wait the hour it would take to…
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Prom Time – Why is it so Crazy These Days?
Why is Prom so crazy these days? It just gets worse every year. I remember when I went to Prom. We had our prom in our cafeteria at school. We decorated it, ate supper there and then danced and had fun until it was over. There was a photographer at the prom, we all lined up and took our pictures in front of the themed background. Everyone’s pictures were basically the same. The main cost for prom was either your dress or tuxedo. There were no limos, no fancy dinners, no professional photographers, we even painted our own nails, applied our own makeup and fixed our own hair. Now it…
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Crescent Roll Danishes
Do you need an easy recipe for breakfast, brunch or dessert? This is one that I have made for my kids many times over the past few years. We have tried these danishes in many different ways, cream cheese, grape, strawberry, Nutella, apple, honey, etc… We have settled on the cream cheese, strawberry and Nutella being our favorites. I usually make a double batch when I am cooking for the whole family. There are 8 crescent rolls in a package and I use 1/2 a package of cream cheese for one can. I put the cream cheese in a bowl and heat in the microwave for 20 second intervals until…
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Creative Organizing in the Kitchen
I have never been lucky enough to live in a house with a pantry. It didn’t matter much when we were first married because we didn’t have much to put in the cabinets. But as our family has grown and we acquired more possessions, this became more of a problem. I have had to be creative in organizing our stuff. The house we live in now has a very small kitchen. It was built in the 60’s and like most houses built in that era, the kitchen was not given much space or thought. I have very little counter space, even less that is usable. There are not many cabinets,…
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Easy Strawberry Cheesecake Pie
I have been making these cheesecake pies for a long time. I don’t really remember where the recipe came from, but as you know by now, I don’t usually follow a recipe exactly. The original recipe didn’t call for any extras and the regular is okay, but I like to add in extra textures and flavors to change it up. I have made several different versions over the years, Oreo with an Oreo crust is my son’s favorite, but the strawberry is mine and my daughter’s favorite. A few other versions I have made include pineapple, lemon, Butterfinger in a chocolate crust, and chocolate chip in a chocolate crust. I…
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Meal Planning – My Way
I have said it before. I am not good about meal planning. Our life is crazy most of the time. I rarely know if we are going to be home for supper or at least how many are going to be home. I have tried to plan out meals, but it usually doesn’t work out. I like to have easy meals that I can throw together quickly, that is just what works for our family, but I still like to cook fairly wholesome meals out of real food when possible. I have a few tricks that help me with this. I buy ground meat in the larger amounts and prepare…
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Beef and Bean Enchiladas
I saw post about chicken enchiladas last week, it looked good but I didn’t have any chicken. I did have some taco meat frozen though, so I looked for a beef enchilada recipe. I changed it of course to fit our preferences and it was divine. I usually don’t really like enchiladas, but these were good, really good. I used the homemade red enchilada sauce that one of the recipes used. It was easy to make and I had everything in the house to make it. I followed the directions pretty closely except I only used 3 tbls of the chili powder because my husband is a wimp with spicy…
Organizing, Crafts, Cooking, Saving Money, and Traveling
