Itchiness, Yummy Brownies, and Price Matching!

I have heard, all my life, about hives. Never had them. Didn't even know exactly what they were. But they just sound horrible, don't they?
Saturday night, I took the last dose of my 10-day regimen of antibiotics for that nasty sinus infection I had. Ahhh.... Finally done with those! I woke up about 3 a.m., kinda itchy. When I got up Sunday morning and took my shower to get ready for church, I noticed a few odd red splotches here and there, and my scalp itched like crazy. Very, very itchy. You have no idea how itchy. I went ahead and got ready for church, and Mattie and I headed out. By the time we got to church, my hands were a bit puffy. By the time I got out of church, my right eye and my bottom lip were both swelling. Luckily, Mercy has an Express Care in Monett. It opened at noon, just as we got there. By the time I got in to see the Nurse Practitioner (Luckily, the one I usually see, and the one that prescribed the antibiotics) everything was swollen and itchy. She gave me a lovely shot in the hip, and sent me home with steroids and antihistamines. By the way, a shout-out goes to the fine folks at Old Town Pharmacy in Monett. They are open on Sundays, and I never have to wait long. I love those people!
So, anyway, I now know that you can have an allergic reaction to antibiotics at any time during the course of treatment, and if you notice that everything is swelling, you should probably go to the doctor.

I think I have mentioned "Swag bucks" before, but if you haven't already checked them out, you really should. Just by searching using the Swagbuck toolbar, answering short surveys, and watching videos, you earn points that you can then redeem for "prizes" or gift cards. I have already received a $50 Paypal gift card (which I then was able to deposit in my bank account) and have almost enough points to do that again. They offer gift cards to a lot of different stores, but I like the fact that with the Paypal card, I can actually turn that into real money. I have put the Swagbucks Widget at the bottom of my Blog page. Check it out.

Looking for a fun way to jazz up brownies? Bake them as cupcakes. As soon as you take them out of the oven, push a piece of candy into the center. My favorites are Reese's miniatures and Rolos.

My final random rambling for the day is in regards to Price Matching at Walmart. I found a lovely site, "Weekly Saver," out of Monett. For $3 a week, you can receive a price list of all the deals that can be price matched in this immediate area. I just got my first list last week, and saved more than the cost of the list on just two purchases. And price matching was totally hassle free. The only hard part, for me, was not letting myself get distracted and miss telling the checker about the price match. It is rumored that avocados will be on sale at Aldi, starting tomorrow, for only .19 each. Visit Weekly Saver on Facebook

Thursday Randomness

This was a very busy day full of randomness. Once Mattie was off to school, we headed out to the "Big City" for a round of errands and such. Being in a small town, in rural Missouri, we only have a few choices as far as shopping goes. And I like to coupon, so that means heading to somewhere... larger.
I didn't spend a lot of money today (Uhh... that is kinda the point, though, isn't it?) Here are a few of my favorite deals from today:

Walgreens has Neutrogena Make-up Remover cleansing towlettes, regularly $3.29, on sale $1.19 ea, or 5/$5. I bought five, and used two manufacturers coupons, each worth $2 off the purchase of one item. So, I actually paid TWENTY CENTS!!! for each package of towelettes.

At Harps, which I had not visited before, I found Dawn Hand Renewal dish detergent, 9 oz. bottle for $1.12. I bought two, and used two .50/1 coupons. Harps doubles coupons, up to 50 cents, which brought the price per bottle to a whopping TWELVE CENTS!!!

And Target, oh, yes... I love Target... I got some really interesting deals today. Somehow... somewhere... I came up with two $10 coupons toward the purchase of a Litter Genie. Ok, I don't know about you, but I didn't even know what the heck a Litter Genie was. I had never seen one. But, sure enough, right there on the shelf at Target, sat one Litter Genie and a stack of refills. (Think Diaper Genie for cats) I expected the price to be much higher than it was, considering the high value of the coupons I had. Target had them priced at $14.99, making them $4.99 each, after coupon. And here's the "I love Target" part: When you purchase two Litter Genie items at Target this week, you get a free $5 Target gift card. I didn't know what one was, and probably didn't need it, but the cat litter IS stinky, and I got the Litter Genie and a double package of refills, a $29.98 value, for $4.98.

The last awesome deal I am going to share with you is one you can easily take advantage of yourself. Target has the large Hormel Party Tray, which includes ham and turkey, or salami and pepperoni, cheese, and crackers, priced at $10.99. Use one $3/1 Target coupon and one $3/1 manufacturers coupon (this is called "stacking"), bringing the price down to $4.99. The expiration date on the Party Trays I purchased were in April and May. With SuperBowl Sunday coming up, this seems like a fantastic deal!

Go to Target.com, find the coupons *look at the bottom, where the "contact us," etc. buttons are* Locate the $3 Target coupon. On Target.com, the manufacturers coupons use the language, "When you buy," You are looking for the store coupons that may say "with purchase of" or simply says, $3 off . Again, if it says When You Buy it is a manufacturers coupon. We are looking for the Target Coupon for this. (Random ramblings?) Once you locate the $3/1 Hormel Party Tray Target coupon, print that bad boy off... then back up and do it all again. You should actually be able to print two of these coupons. Duh... here's the link to the Target Coupon page:  Target Coupons
Then, go to Coupons.com and locate and print the coupon that says:

SAVE $3.00

HORMEL®

on the purchase of any one (1) HORMEL® Party Tray 28oz. or larger 

Go through the steps again, and print the second manufacturers coupon. Two seems to be the print limit on these coupons. 

Holy Carbs! (Kenna's Bread Recipe)

Things have been a bit hectic around here lately, mostly due to my having forgotten how much fun it is to have a baby in the house. I am keeping a friend's 6-month old a couple days a week. Today went well, considering she was a bit grumpy and I still managed to bake bread.

I have had multiple requests for my bread recipe. I found several recipes on Pinterest, and messed around with them a bit, finally coming up with this recipe. I have a KitchenAid stand mixer, but not the dough hook. You can, of course, make this by hand instead of using a mixer. I have never used a bread machine, but I suppose you can halve the recipe and try it. 

This recipe makes two standard size loaves. I bake my bread in a Pampered Chef Mini Loaf Pan, which makes four loaves the perfect size for the toaster and sandwiches, not really mini at all. 

Be sure to read the entire recipe a couple times, as I am not a pro at recipe writing and may not have everything in the logical order. :) Let me know how it turns out!

Kenna's Bread

Makes two loaves

7+  c. bread flour
4 tsp salt
2 c. milk
2/3 c. water
1/4 c.  butter  (salted or unsalted)
5-6 Tbsp honey
4 tsp yeast

1. Put one oven rack in the lowest position and the other in the middle position. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. After ten minutes, turn the oven off but leave the door closed. 

2. Mix 3 cups of the flour, the salt and the yeast. Drizzle the honey over the flour mixture. In a saucepan on low, melt the butter, watching carefully to prevent burning. Add the milk and water and heat to about 110 degrees (*should feel warm when you stick your CLEAN finger in it, not hot.)
Gradually add liquid to the flour mixture, mixing on low until well combined, scraping bowl frequently. Add flour, 1/4-1/2 cup at a time, until the dough comes together. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 8-10 minutes, or until smooth and springy. Add additional flour, 1 spoonful at a time, as necessary if the dough is sticky after about five minutes. Stop machine as frequently as necessary to scrape dough off the beater/dough hook.  

Meanwhile, bring 2 cups water to a boil. 

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead to form a smooth, round ball, about one minute. 

3. Lightly oil a large glass or metal bowl. Roll the dough around the bowl to coat it and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Pour the boiling water into a metal pan placed on the lower oven rack, then put the bowl containing the dough on the upper rack and close the door. Let the dough raise until doubled, between 30 and 40 minutes. 

4. Punch the dough down, divide and form loaves, and place in greased or buttered bread pans. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes. You can re-heat the water, if necessary to maintain the warm oven while it rises.  Remove the bread pans and the pan of water from the oven, preheat the oven to 350. Meanwhile, again bring 2 cups water to a boil. 

Once the oven is preheated, return the pan to the bottom rack and pour the boiling water into it.  Bake the bread until a thermometer inserted at an angle from the short end, just above the pan rim, into the center of the loaf reads 195 degrees, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and transfer to a wire rack. 

If you wait until the bread is cool, it slices very nicely. This also freezes very nicely.

I'm off to watch a random TV show. 

Finally Friday!

Friday is a day held in high regard by most Americans. Friday, for the very young, means more parental attention for a couple days. Preteens see it as a great chance to have a sleep-over. For teenagers, it is a night out with friends: the movies, hanging at the mall, or taking over someone's living room and TV for the evening are some favorite activities. 

For parents, however, Friday frequently means family members are all going in different directions until Sunday. It also means surprises, such as "Dad, I'm not going to be home tomorrow" Or "Mom, great news! My three best friends' parents all said they could stay over! They will be here for dinner tonight, and breakfast tomorrow, then we have to take them home." How do you plan for something like that? You don't. 

Weekend survival, for parents, is all about flexibility. 

We started out with a strict "No same-day plans" rule. If you want to invite someone over, it has to be completely arranged the day before. If you plan on going to the movies, you have to tell us, the previous day, what movie you are going to see, when, where, and how you are getting there and home again. 

Did I say strict? Lol.... Remember, flexibility is key here. The only thing the rule really did for us was give us the option of saying "No" when we were informed of some plan at the last minute. Mostly, though, we would just say, "Ok. But NEXT time, ask the day before. You KNOW the rules." 

So, your best bet is to work with what you have. If your children are in the "more attention" mode, plan some activities for the weekend that you will all enjoy. Throw some blankets and pillows on the floor and watch some classic Disney movies. Cover the kitchen table with newspapers or a disposable tablecloth and paint with edible things (think mustard, ketchup, mayo, relish, chocolate syrup, whipped topping, peanut butter) It is really messy, but oh-so-much fun. A long walk full of "do you see," weather permitting, is a great "get outside" activity. The best part is that if you spend a solid block of time paying attention, you will find that your kids are actually less demanding the rest of the time. Make them the most important thing around.

Once your kids are trying to spend the night away every weekend, it is time to use it to your advantage. Set some ground rules. For instance, the child may only have overnight company one night a month, limit the number of nights the child can stay away from home, choose a set-in-stone time by which they must contact you the next morning. Bad attitude, right up to the time the company is supposed to arrive, or the child leaves to go to the friend's house, will get the sleepover canceled. Again, we weren't nearly strict as we should have been. We had all these rules, but usually, it was just so much easier to cave in... but we did have the rules. (Yes, I am hanging my head in shame. I am sure you will do MUCH better.) 

When our older two were teenagers, many of the rules were the same, but we tried to limit the number of sleepovers (for obvious reasons.) The thing with teenagers is, well, they are teenagers. Take a deep breath and hold on tight. And hope you did well enough with them before they got to this stage that they won't be totally crazy for long. 

One of our requirements has always been that they have to come home from school and say hello before taking off. Of course, it works pretty well for us, as we can actually SEE the school from the house. There have been exceptions when someone rides the bus home with a friend, but we did enforce this one. Always. 

A family calendar, white board, cork board, or even just a notepad kept in the same place all the time will prove priceless, but only if the family uses is consistently. Other coping strategies include keeping some snacks on hand at all times. Hide a jar of peanuts and some microwave popcorn, stick some frozen snacks in the deep freeze under that block of stuff you can't identify. Try adding rice or potatoes, a salad and an extra vegetable to make that roast go further. 

Don't forget to have some weekend yourselves. Get a babysitter or arrange for the kids to sleepover at friends' houses on the same night. Go out to eat and to the movies, or pick up carry-out and a new release from Redbox or plan a marathon on Netflix and have a picnic in front of the TV. 

And finally, keep the family close on Sundays. Worship as a family. Enjoy some low-key time in the afternoon. Stick something in the slow-cooker (maybe the Kahlua Pig recipe I posted the other day) or get everyone involved in preparing the meal. Sunday evening, in our house, usually means a lot of laughter and talk about the weekend and the upcoming week. It is a great time to play a board game or watch a family-friendly movie; our kids watched a lot of black-and-white movies, and usually groaned about them, but learned to love them. 

Have a fantastic weekend, and don't forget to do something, you know, random!