Mrs. Negative

I feel like I've been saying a lot of negative things lately. Well, it's not gonna change! I'm kidding, but I have been kinda down in the dumps. I can't tell if it is pregnancy or my living situation but my patients is thin, if even there. I'm not even smiley and polite to cashiers anymore. I am very blunt, and pretty snarky to my family. And if you are a telemarketer or a door to door salesman...watch out. I will tell you how I feel about your product! This is me, and I don't see it changing by tomorrow. Some people like pregnancy, but I don't...and I think it is getting to me. I'm quite sure this is the last. And I can't believe I am doing it in my family's house. It's crowded, smelly, and I have to compete to be the top snarky brat. It's too much. But Tuesday we are in the apartment, so a little more privacy. I'm curious to see how gross the kitchen gets when I'm not in it anymore. I'm better than yesterday. I was reading a book off and on, and I think it was getting to me. It's about a girl whos goal is to be better than her rich 'I don't need to do anything - everything gets given to me' friend. She stalks her and even has a baby just to ahve something first(and then she pays no attention to her child. I though I was enjoying the book, but I was so depressed at the end of the day, I decided I wouldn't read it at all today and I feel much better. So, I will toss it. Well, my happy blog. Just wanted to let anyone know that if I say something rude, it can't be helped. It's a part of me for now....

SAHM money making schemes

Every stay at home mom would would love to find a way to bring a small income in from home. That is why I am suckered into buying a thousand useless items from Pampered Chef, candle parties, scrabooking stuffs from friends. (I'm not complaining really, I find those parties a great opportunity to get together and chat and take a load off) Well, my husband wants me to find a way to make money from home. I've found a couple ways to start out, but I find I am embarassed to talk about it because these are not new ideas. SAHMs have been trying to make money selling crummy little homemade items for years. What makes me think I will be successful. Well, my first thought was Ebay. I could give it a try and it would cost me no money. Preston has acquired some electrical items that are worth money and I have some kitchen items. So far, going great. We sold our first item and I'm shipping it out today. My concern is that we sold it for $50 plus shipping (we will make a little on the shipping too) which is fine becuase the item cost us no money, but it is still way under it's market value. How do people keep acquiring stuff for so cheap that they can afford to sell it on Ebay. I'd have to get free stuff all the time! I can see what fuels theft with things like Ebay around.
Anyways, I don't see this lasting. So, my next idea is teacher gifts and other small treats. Yah, original, I know. But I got some awesome ideas from Jen Sellars (in my ward) and we are going to do it together. I've started making samples and we will take pics and make a pamphlet and maybe from there just start advertising locally, taking sample gift baskets to corporations and going from there. Unfortunately there is a small start up cost becuase you have to buy the cutel little cello bags(so many different shapes and sizes) and ribbon and the expensive Callebaut chocolate. We'll make chocolate covered marshmellows, licorice and pretzels...and wrapping is everything. Jen does this sooo much and she is very good at it. I'm willing and not afriad to market so hopefully we will make a good team. and if it doesn't work, we ddin't put too much money into it, we've got presents for the people we visit teach for months and some yummy treats to eat ourselves! Anyways, that has consumed my last several days. I'll keep you posted.

Buttermilk Cornbread

So I had a request for the buttermilk cornbread recipe. It is a simple cornbread recipe, nothing special, but it's nice to find a good standard recipe which I feel this one is. I've made it twice in the past 2 days and it keeps getting eaten so it must be good. Next, I am going to progress to the mexican cornbread, which I've had before and love, but have never tried. You put chilis and corn in it or something. If you have a recipe, let me know.

1/4 lb butter - this is the dumbest measurement ever. I like cups or ml. but pounds? I think it is about 1/2 cup but you may actually know.
Anyways, melt it in a pot and stir in
2/3 C sugar
2 eggs
1 C buttermilk (combined with 1/2 tsp bk soda)
1 C flour
1/2 tsp salt

pour into pan 8x8 or 9x9 and bake 30 minutes(ish)at 375.

Yum.

Fried chicken

I made fried check for the first time last night. It was actually pretty good. When I say 'fried chicken' I mean a pot full of oil and the the chicken fried in it. I would do it again. I didn't like the flour rolled ones as much, but I just sprinkled a lot of pepper, salt, garilc and even cayenne on the chicken and put it in the oil for 10-15 minutes. Dark meat. Quite good. Try it. Now that the kitchen is cleaner, I will try more recipes. I also made buttermilk cornbread. It was a good recipe too. If you want them let me know. I've made cornbread that is really gritty...this one was good!

Don't ask about the future!

Yes we are still at my moms house. We have nooooo idea what we are doing. Our plan originally was to be here so that when everyone moves out, we will buy the house and renovate and make it our own. Why? It is the perfect house in the perfect location. I think I've already explained before how we can walk everywhere as it is all 2 minutes away. and it is on a very safe, quiet cul de sac so they can run out on the road with minimal chances of harm. (What I hate about our current lcation in Calgary is all the kids play on the road, but it is a 2 way street and cars are always coming one way or the other...not half as safe) I'm sure we could find a comparable property somewhere in the city but it would defeat our other purpose....saving money. This house is rundown and would potentially be cheap to buy off my nana. Another house in a location like this would be $400,000 which is not bad to you Albertans but expensive here, and we want the smallest mortgage possible. So, we are really torn right now. My nana wont talk about it so we don't even know what to expect in the future so we could be sitting here for...well, we don't know. So, there is a house on the market a block away (it is hard to find houses for sale in this area)that I am going to look at today. it is $279,000. with 4 bedrooms and it is right across the street from the school. Busier street, yes but with all the same amenities close by. I don't know. For now, we spent the whole weekend cleaning. We emptied the cupboards and scoured them....I wish we would have taken a before pic, you would have been grossed out. And we re-arranged the living room and in the process we able to get a lot of cobwebs and dustbunnies. So, atleast I feel a little better about living here. We had a home inspection done and she knows there are some leaks in the house in the basement becuase it smells like mould, and we get a fair bit of bugs because the windows are 50 yrs old and have breaches. One thing at a time. For now, the fam. enjoys the pool. SO we have that going for us.

Swimming Everyday

My family (minus me) has been swimming everyday. It's funny because I never pegged Preston as much of a swimmer, but his problem, I have discovered, is we've never had a pool in our backyard. So, he is just too lazy to pack up and go to the beach or go to some pool. But, when it is sitting in the backyard and you can just pull your pants down and and jump right in, he'll go 3 times a day. It is great because the kids usually go with him and having them in the pool that often is really building their confidence. Clayton can tough in the shallow end so he often goes in now without a life jacket and attempts to swim. he can paddle and keep is feet of the ground now for 5-10 seconds so it really is good for him. Kayla still can't reach but she enjoys paddling around in her life jacket. Both are much more comfortable putting their heads underwater too. They are in lessons right now but I figure by the end of the summer I can relax a little more while they are in the pool because they will be little swimmers!