Feb 26

Guest Blog: One-Ingredient, No-Guilt Icecream

Foodie Fridays 2 Comments »

One of my favorite guest bloggers, Joy, sent me this recipe that she tried out this week. She even experimented with guests. Kudos to joy for being a brave hostess and then living to tell.

All you need are some ripe bananas (not mushy ripe, but definitely spotty) and a food processor.  Chop them up into smaller pieces and then freeze.  When you’re ready for your sweet-treat, toss them in your food processor. 

They may look a little chunky, but scrape the sides, push them down, blend some more and they will smooth out nicely. It tastes great on it’s own or with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. 

You can also try mixing in some Nutella, cinnamon-sugar, or peanut butter.  Have fun!

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Feb 25

Spring Break: Six Tips for Finding Deals

Tried and True Thursdays No Comments »

Had enough of winter? Ready for some sunshine and relaxation? Plan a getaway for spring break and take a break without breaking your bank.

Here are a few tips to have you soaking up the sun under budget.

1.       Get off the beaten path. Skip the obvious hot spots and pick somewhere you’ve always wanted to go besides Cancun, Hawaii, or Disneyland. Most major cities have great attractions for families and national parks are still a great deal for families. (Check out next week’s post for ideas on must-see places for families.)

2.       Buy a Citypass. If you’re hitting a big city, then this can save you long lines and lots of cash, and you’ll still see all the main attractions.

3.       Subscribe to save. A lot of websites will deliver “the deal of the week” to your email to notify you of good deals on airfare and hotels. Be sure to subscribe to email feeds for airline frequent flier programs, TravelZoo.com, and About.com/budgettravel.

4.       Hold out for a good deal. Track airfare rates on sites like Yapta that will alert you to good deals to your favorite destinations.

5.       Skip the hotel. Instead of a hotel, consider doing a home exchange, using hotel points (similar to airline miles), or renting a condo or timeshare. This is especially helpful if you’re traveling with a large family and you need more room to spread out and want access to a kitchen to save on food costs.

6.       Snack on this. I always pack a small suitcase, full of water bottles and snacks, so we can grab and go at Costco prices instead of becoming a slave to convenience stores. Once the bag is empty at the end of our getaway it’s a great place to stash souvenirs from our trip.

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Feb 24

Hot Topic: Olympic Gold

Wildcard Wednesdays 2 Comments »

 

We’re huge fans of sports in our house, so it’s only natural that we’ve been glued to the screen for the past week and a half watching the Olympics unfold. We’re not fans of snow and cold, but we’ve still thoroughly enjoyed the Winter Games this year.

Question: What sport have you enjoyed watching during these Olympic games?

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Feb 23

FREE Food Today Only

Deal of the Week No Comments »

Today is IHOP’s free pancake day. Go get a short stack for FREE and then donate to charity while you’re there.

Also Jack in the Box is giving away a FREE grilled sandwich when you buy a large drink. Some restrictions may apply.

Thanks Jaycie!

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Feb 23

Loads of Fun — Not a Chance

Tidy Up Tuesdays 2 Comments »

I know I ranted yesterday about hating to take out the trash, so I thought I’d post tips on my other most-hated household chore – laundry. It’s an oldie (posted in 2009), but a goody (which is why I’ve re-posted it).

I had a stay-at-home dad cohort who loved doing laundry because it gave him an excuse to watch ESPN and still productively cross chores off his to-do list. I can’t get that excited about doing laundry. I’m not sure why I hate laundry as much as I do but recently I discovered a few ways to win the battle against the mounds of laundry my family produces. A big key was involving my kids more in the laundry process.

Here’s my three-step system.

1. Keep a tidy laundry room. I love that our new house houses the laundry room upstairs near all of the bedrooms. I bought a three-bin laundry sorter that matches my laundry room and all items go into either darks, brights, or whites.

2. Place laundry baskets in each bedroom. Each bedroom has its own laundry basket so no one has an excuse to put her dirty socks, pants, towels, etc. on the floor. These larger laundry baskets are sorted out once or twice a week into the laundry room sorter. (Even my three-year-old likes to sort laundry. Sorting laundry is also a handy chore for kids who don’t pick up their dirty clothes even though the basket is in their room.)

3. Buy each child her own laundry basket. I bought three small, stackable, cheap laundry baskets from Target (only $1.99 each) and wrote each of my children’s names on them with a Sharpie. Once the laundry is folded, I put their clean clothes in the baskets and then they put them away in their drawers. When they’re empty I stack them inside each other and set them on top of the dryer.

Question: What do you do to make laundry less of a burden?

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Feb 22

Garbage and Grilled Cheese: My Husband is Smarter Than I Ever Realized

Mommy Monday 1 Comment »

My dad always used to say, “Ignorance is bliss.” I never fully understood what that meant until my husband burnt a grilled cheese sandwich. Twice. And set the smoke alarm off – twice – by charring both the top of the sandwich and the bottom all the while not melting the cheese in the middle.

How is this even possible, I wondered as I looked at my starving 4-year-old waiting for her dad to deliver something edible. He’s smart, talented, a go-getter, an over-achiever, and he has an MBA, and he can’t put two pieces of bread together and make a sandwich for our daughter? Really?

I thought of all of the ways that I’ve tried to help him succeed in the kitchen over the years, yet he he always fails. Come to think of it, I can’t think of any other area in which he fails. Time after time, I’ve felt so badly for him that I have rescued him from his sad culinary state. I swoop in and save the day with a perfectly toasty, perfectly melted American classic and put smiles on everyone’s faces again.

Then it hit me as I looked at the glowing grin smeared across my husband’s face. It’s the look my kids get when I “accidentally” do their homework under the inpatient guise of “helping” them find the answer. He wasn’t helpless in the kitchen. It was all a big act. He is one smart guy. It was all a part of his clever plan to receive automatic dismissal from all kitchen duties.

I began seeing the plan through his eyes. If I create a tragic disaster in the kitchen then she’ll lose all faith and hope that I’ll ever be able to make it in the kitchen. Better yet, if I break an expensive gadget or two she’ll banish me entirely.

It was easy to imagine since I believe I’m guilty of this same helpless charade when it comes to the trash. I’m not sure what it is about taking out the garbage, but I will go to great lengths to get out of it. When my husband goes away on business, I don’t worry about loneliness or losing my sanity with the kids 24/7; instead I worry about who I can bribe to take my trash out for me.

I’ve been known to “go on strike” and let the trash pile up so high it looked like an exciting game of Jenga. Moments like these cause him to call me Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout, referring to the girl in the popular Shel Silvertstein poem who would not take the garbage out.

I’ve used every excuse in the book for letting it pile up—everything from, “I’m too short,” to, “It’s just icky and gross.” I guess the blame goes two directions. In the future, my best bet is to hide my brand new Kitchen Aid or learn how to take out the trash if I expect my husband to whip up something gourmet.

Question: What chore do you hate?

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Feb 19

Freezer Bombs: Tips For Tasting Success With Freezer Meals

Foodie Fridays, Guest Blogger No Comments »

Note: It’s always a great honor for me to be selected as a guest blogger. Check out my post on Coupongeek.net. Thank you Jaycie for letting me rant to all your readers about freezer meal cooking and killing plants.

From the second I turned on the “Baby Songs” DVD for my two toddler daughters – ages 18 months and 2 ½ at the time – I knew I had exactly 28 minutes to whip up a good meal. No, I wasn’t trying to impress Rachael Ray. Rather, I knew I had a small window of time before the clock figuratively struck midnight and I would again struggle to juggle cooking with one baby on my hip and the other one at my feet crying.

So, when I heard about the concept of freezer-meal cooking I couldn’t wait to test out this ingeniously efficient cooking method in my own kitchen. I made out my menu plan. I carefully crafted my shopping list and tied on my apron. Part way through the process, I decided I was a genius and I declared myself Best Homemaker Ever. Here I was preparing a month’s worth of meals so I could have more time to spend with my children, all while saving money on my food budget.

Later, when one of my many prepared freezer meals for the month thawed, so did my 15 minutes of fame. I lifted open the carefully wrapped tinfoil expecting to find delicious homemade chicken pot pie; instead I discovered a soupy, gray-colored mess.

To read the rest of my post click HERE.

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Feb 19

NEW Features For Readers of 3 Girls And a Pug

Uncategorized No Comments »

I’ve been doing a little behind the scenes work on 3girlsandapug.com that you may or may not have noticed. On the right hand side you’ll see I’ve added a new Facebook widget. If you haven’t become a fan of 3girlsandapug you should do it today. Also, thanks for spreading the word to all your friends. We’re getting new friends everyday and who can’t use more friends?

For all of you non-Facebookers, we’re finally up and running on Feedburner. Hooray! So, if you’d like to get email updates on my posts sign-up on the right hand side of the page. It’s easy and I promise I won’t spam you or sell your information because I’m a busy mom, too, and I hate when people do that to me.

Thanks for spreading the word about my blog  through emails, Facebook and other means. It’s exciting to see that I have readers that live in New Delhi and in islands off the coast of Africa. I have Facebook friends with unfamilar faces but whose lives I’m sure are so much the same. We’re all just looking for a little more joy in the journey of life and it’s great to do it together.

I hope the new changes are helpful. I’m always open to feedback on how I’m doing, so let me know if you have any suggestions, requests or feedback. You guys are great!

Feb 18

What’s Your Love Language?

Tried and True Thursdays No Comments »

Even though The 5 Love Languages, by Gary Chapman isn’t new it’s a classic. The heart of the matter, according to the author, is that we all have a way we like to receive love from others and that is usually the same manner in which we reciprocate our love. However, others in our life may not speak that same love language and as a result, we should not only identify our own love language but also those of others we love.

I took this quiz many years ago and discovered I didn’t fit into any one of the three areas but instead was an even split between all three — touch, gifts, and praise. My husband laughed out loud when he heard the results of my quiz. I defended myself and said, “What? It makes me well-rounded and easy to please!” He quickly replied, “Or it makes you high-maintenance.”

So, if you dare, check out this great widget on my blog (bottom right hand column) to take the quiz. Invite your spouse or significant other to discover what their love language is too. (Thanks fellow blogger, and occasional guest poster, Joy, for the tip on the great love languages quiz widget.)

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Feb 17

FREE Gift to Give or Keep For Yourself

Deal of the Week No Comments »

Snapfish is offering 6 FREE Custom Photo Coasters! FREE shipping too! I just have to decide if I’ll make a set for myself or give them out as a gift. Decisions, decisions.

*This offer is valid for new Snapfish customers only, but remember every person in your household with a valid email is considered a new customer.

Here is how to get your FREE Coasters.

1. Sign up for a Snapfish account. (The credit for the FREE cards will show up in your account after you register).
2. After you register, click on “My Account.”
3. On the right side of the screen you will see “Offers and Credits” click on “Redeem” next to the “Customer Service Credit for Coaster Set 6, No Holder.”
4. Upload, create, and add the coasters to your shopping cart.
5. Use promo code: PRESDAY
6. Checkout. You should have a zero balance because it’s all FREE! Also, if you choose to add on the 50 FREE cards too, your shipping will only be around $4. What a deal!

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