A Moms Love

Christmas 2009

2009-12-22T15:13:00.001-05:00

Chex Mix

Easy Cheese Ball

Honey Glazed Ham

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tangy-Honey-Glazed-Ham/Detail.aspx

Green Beans

http://www.womansday.com/Recipes/Festive-Green-Beans-Recipe

Mashed Potatoes

http://www.womansday.com/Recipes/Mashed-Potatoes-with-Cheddar-and-Chives-Recipe

Butternut Squash

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Merritts-Butternut-Squash-Gratin/Detail.aspx

Pumpkin Pie

Candy

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-24T14:03:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving Dinner 09

Appetizers

Cheese
Crackers
Fruit

Entre

Turkey
Gravy
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Candied Sweet Potatoes (Gretchen)
Green Bean Casserole (Julie)
Succotash
Cranberry Sauce
Rolls (Gretchen)

Desserts

Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Peanut Butter Brownies (Julie)
Chocolate Brownies (Julie)
Cool Whip (Gretchen)

Beverages

Coffee
Tea
Ice Tea (Gretchen)

Swaptree - trade books, CDs, DVDs, and video games for free

2009-09-09T22:14:00.001-04:00

Swaptree - trade books, CDs, DVDs, and video games for free

Shared via AddThis

McConells's Mill

2009-07-21T17:42:00.000-04:00

Last Day of Filming for Twitter 2wkfilm in Pittsburgh

2009-05-23T10:22:00.004-04:00

Today is the day that filming ends in Pittsburgh for The Twitter 2wkfilm challenge.

"what started as a joke between a couple of filmmakers on Twitter turned into a challenge: make a feature-length film in two weeks. Yes, two weeks. And I know what you're thinking, that's an insane idea. True, but that's exactly why it's a great one.

You spend two weeks in hell making a film that no one expects to be any good at all. And if you can clear that hurdle and make something people actually want to see, you've got a film that you can say, "We made this in two weeks on a Twitter challenge". That's a pretty good promotional hook, don't you think? There's festivals that would love to show a film like that.

And if it's terrible? Oh well. I doubt anyone will hold that against us.

The rules (such as they are): feature-length (60+ min), have 2 weeks from start of filming to fine cut (but not final cut, so we can color correct and whatever before sending to festivals), and it must be done by the end of May."
..... Lucas McNelly from "Introducing, the 2 week Twitter film"

Check out some of the photos and web logs:

http://lmcnelly15.blogspot.com/

Facebook Lucas McNelly

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/lmcnelly

Photos from the Film:
http://twitpic.com/photos/lmcnelly

100 films: Introducing, the 2 week Twitter film

2009-05-20T20:48:00.000-04:00

100 films: Introducing, the 2 week Twitter film

Date with the Dentist

2009-05-17T00:13:00.005-04:00

Yep, I went to San Francisco on March 1st, it was my first night there and out of the vending machine I purchased my downward spiral into tooth ache hell.
It was about the fourth cheesy pretzel nugget and I thought, "Hmm, there is something rather harder than normal in this particular bite, ah I think that might be my tooth." And, it was...a piece of the right upper molar,

Then, a month later, I was at a wedding at the doubletree in pittsburgh, and I put something else in my mouth, took a bite and the rest of the half of that particular tooth, plus the filling, cracked and fell out.

From Wedding ben and becky

Well, that was April 18th and this week around Wed. (May 14) it started hurting considerably, so Friday I went to see my dentist...he just sealed it with something and I made an appt. for June 10th to get a crown. As I was driving away, my tooth began thumping, so I called doc, he said try some advil, anyway, I just came back from the ER and I made an appt. for Monday at 10, the doc will come in earlier to fix my tooth.

What do you do for a toothache? Clove oil? Read some of the precautions on using clove oil:
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/healthconditionsqtoz/a/tootheache.htm

My Mothers Day

2009-05-13T19:02:00.006-04:00

I had a beautiful Mothers Day.
Kelly cleaned for me and made
Better than Sex Cake
Not sure which recipe she used.
It was good.

Gretchen made a salad and some brownies

Here is the mantle with my cards:

Julie made hmmmm Lasagna...I will have to get her recipe
but here are some from Allrecipes

Peter brought over Liam
and we just had a wonderful time.

Bridgette painted me a picture and got me the most beautiful roses

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T13:18:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

Kids are in the kitchen making dinner AND cleaning up afterwards!

I am doing some laundry because I don't have anything else to do and
hanging out on http://www.twitter.com/amomslove (follow me)
and webpartner.com and last fm
Check out my music on
http://www.last.fm/user/amomslove

and on Blip
http://blip.fm/amomslove

Check out My Notes
http://www.amomslove.com/category/my-notes

and my articles
http://www.amomslove.com/category/my-articles

Kids are making
Lasagna
Corn
Salad
Better than Sex Cake
Brownies

Cinco de Mayo

2009-05-05T21:16:00.000-04:00

We had a very nice Cinco de Mayo.
I just made tacos, but I made them from scratch, not the
tortillas, though.

I cut up onion and browned it and put a pound and an half of ground sirloin. I let that brown a little,
added about 4 tbsp. of chili powder, Mrs. Dash chipolte seasoning, salt, fresh ground multi colored pepper, and 2 minced cloves of garlic. I let it all cook on simmer while I…

cut up tomatoes, lettuce,yellow peppers, onion, openend up some fresh salsa from the store and good quality guacamole and sour cream to use as toppings for the tacos. I also had the large flour tortillas warming in the oven in tin foil.

Served everything with Ice Tea and threw in some white taco chips…..I can tell you we are all stuffed.

What's a Mom to Do about the Swine Flu

2009-04-29T01:02:00.002-04:00

I guess I panic right away, because you know how easy it is to catch a cold.I know they say wash your hands, but I still get the cold that my students might have.If it’s airborne how can we Not get it.

So I am thinking the best defense is to eat well.stock up on apples, oranges, any fruit,snack on these instead of junk.make a bag of deep green lettuce, peppers, cukes, parsley…addtomatoes, oil, vinegar, mrs. dash and snack.
Mix some yogurt, nuts, raisins, cranberries, oats for a snack.Make yourself a slushy, mix together plain yogurt, any fruit in a blender…add ice.
Drop the coffee and make a nice pot of green tea.

When you sign in somewhere …use your own pen.
Do not touch doorknobs…wear gloves ( a kleenex) if you can…
Wipe everything down as often as you can if you are at a publicplace like work or school.

Maybe before you have a party at home where germs can spread like crazy…have it at a park pavillion instead.

Washing your hands is the obvious preventative, carry the little packs of hand wipes.
Don’t forget do not touch your eyes, nose and mouth.
Clean off the back packs…esp. handles, your purse and oh, I read that money is very dirty,some businesses near Mexico are having their employees wear latex gloves to handle money.

Don’t forget a few schools have been closed because of the flu.
Just pay attention to your child’s health and perhaps notice whether any of their friends are sick.
Symptoms:
fever
cough
sore throat
body aches
or headache
tiredness

Around the house:
Wipe off your door knobs,light switches, floors, make sureyou thouroughly clean glasses, cups and silverware.
Do a little reading on the subject and pay attention to updates.
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/default.htm
http://twitter.com/CDCEmergency
http://www.momlogic.com/2009/04/swine_flu_cara_natterson.php

Map the swine flu:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&z=5 http://twitter.com/healthmap
http://www.healthmap.org/en

Planted more in the garden

2009-04-28T17:33:00.002-04:00

My husband built a raised bed and filled it full of dirt.
I planted black simpson seeds, imperator carrots, purple
radish, and beets. I have some seeds in a covered peat pots.
Hubbard squash, more lettuce, marglobe tomatoes, rutgers tomato,
golden yellow crookneck squash, hale jumbo melon, white sweet spanish onion,
cucumbers and basil.

I Planted my Onions

2009-04-19T18:33:00.002-04:00

I know it might be too late.
But there out there now.

Check out
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-16-1754,00.html

Tomorrow I am putting in lettuce, yep, I am late on that one as well.
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-16-251,00.html

Whoa, Free Garden Plans
http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Link-Page?id=kgp_pp

Make a simple wire compost bin
http://organicgardening.about.com/od/compost/ht/wirecompostbin.htm

Keep your scraps for your compost bin
http://www.wikihow.com/Transport-Compost-Materials-from-Your-Kitchen-to-Your-Compost-Bin

AMomsLove News: Easter Celebrations

2009-04-05T09:32:00.009-04:00

Print Easter Coupons for Big Bunny's Basket

http://www.amomslove.com/printables/print-eastercoupons.html

Valentine Ideas

2009-02-13T10:02:00.004-05:00

It's that time of the year...when we show our sweetheart how
much we care. Here are some ideas for you garnered from 11 years
of publishing an online magazine.....lots of good stuff here.

Three Easy Steps to a Successful Valentine's Day!
http://www.amomslove.com/hol-valentine-success.html
Use these three easy steps to plan a Valentines day that is well planned.

5 Budget Gift Ideas For A Memorable Valentine's Day by Kim M. Clarke
http://www.amomslove.com/hol-valentine-budget.html
Some really good ideas here.

One Man’s Perspective of Love and Creating Work Balance by Dennis Twitchell
http://www.amomslove.com/hol-valentine-hesays.html
A really well thought plan.

Handmade Valentine's Day Creations for Those You Love
http://www.amomslove.com/hol-valentine-handmade.html
A really cute idea.

Valentine's for the Frugal Family by Brandie Valenzuela
http://www.amomslove.com/hol-valentine-frugal.html
A plethora of wonderful things to do.

A Little Imagination Can Go a Long Way on Valentine’s DayARA Content
http://www.amomslove.com/hol-valentine-imagination.html
Absolutely fabulous and cute suggestions

For more, see our home page
http://www.amomslove.com/hol-home-valentines.html

See Body Beautiful this Weeken d

2009-01-23T21:33:00.004-05:00

January 21st through January 25th
The Body Beautiful
YOUR INNER VAGABOND Lawrenceville. 412-334-3126.

http://www.yourinnervagabond.com/blog/

A multi media performance featuring works by several local artists. Tickets available at the door. Through Jan. 25. Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m.

Read the review on the Post Gazette

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/onstage/default.aspx

Rachel Shaw

What we Had for Breakfast on Frigid Morn

2009-01-16T10:18:00.002-05:00

I found this great recipe on Project Foodie....

from The Heartstone Inn BandB

(By the way, the rooms look gorgeous and are very

reasonably priced.)

The Heartstone Inn’s Apple Cheddar Bake

It was so easy to make!

I didn't have Bisquick so I put two cups

or flour in a mixing bowl, added 1/2 tsp. salt,

1 tbsp. of sugar, 1 tsp. of baking powder and

2 tbsp. of oil..mix all together....check out

the recipe here: Click Here

The Clarion House B&B

2009-01-15T07:56:00.003-05:00

We moved our daughter back to college this past weekend and

stayed at a very nice B&B. The Clarion House B&B boasts original woodwork from Cook Forest, gorgeous stained glass windows, a beautiful and comfortable sitting room next to the bedrooms, where we watched The Steelers beat The Chargers.

Clarion is a beautiful town full of Victorian houses and a great coffee shop that has musicians, poets (etc.) performing.... Very beautiful town.

New Years Resolutions

2009-01-02T16:42:00.004-05:00

RESOLUTIONS

Lose weight by limiting size portions

Read my bible and take notes in my journal

Wake up being grateful for life

Exercise

Do dishes every night

Organize my bedroom

Organize bills

Paint kitchen and put up border

Paint hall, put rugs on stairs and hall up

and down

Paint Living Room, get drapes and sectional

Organize sunroom, make into an office, put up curtains

Paint bathroom

Finish upstairs little bedroom

(Graphic by http://www.momof9splace.com/freegraphics.html )

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T19:26:00.002-05:00

We are having sweet and sour meatballs
Ceasar Salad
chips
salsa
cheese curls

The kids made noise makers with
paper plates taped together
and filled with beans.
They made New Years paintings
witht the date and handprints
They are going to do a fish toss
and got little grab bags fromt he dollar store.

We will be using our noise makers, silly string
and horns to ring in the New Year.

Kids cleaned and Decorated Living Room!

2008-12-23T10:43:00.000-05:00

I came home last night and the girls (Bridgette and Kelly)
had cleaned the Living Room completely and put up the tree,
Put the lights on and decorated the mantle! Will have pics
later.

Anyone have any ideas for dinner tonight..night before night
before Christmas?

Week before Christmas

2008-12-17T21:16:00.005-05:00

Well, we just got our tree today.
We went to a Seabee Christmas Party this past weekend (Sat.)
I was and still am sick. I went to the dinner and we left
right after I stayed in the hotel room. The next morn Bern
went down for breakfast and brought some up to me in the room.

I have been sick since..it is now Wed. Have not done any decorating
or anything:) Just a wreath on the front door...a couple of flowers on the
back door and some in a vase in the foyer.

I need to do Christmas shopping as well. We did something different this
year....we put our wish lists on google docs....everyone can go there for ideas
of what to buy one another...try it:
http://docs.google.com/

Thanksgiving 100 mile Greener Pastures

2008-11-25T20:32:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving

If you can't do a 100 mile Thanksgiving..

(http://amomslove.blogspot.com/2007/11/100-mile-thanksgiving-dinner.html)

that is buy everything grown within 100 miles...

try to look at where the fruits and vegies you are

using are grown and buy the ones that are as close to you

as possible.

Check out all the links I have found:

100 Mile Diet Thanksgiving Stories..

http://100milediet.org/category/thanksgiving-stories

Nice Ideas here:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/11/treehugger_100m_8.php

From The Daily Green (article about organic wine)

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/green-thanksgiving-44103008

Decorating....

By the way I am going to go out in my yard and collect some dried stuff for

decoration....be careful of berries that might be poisonous (would you believe that I have rosemary and parsley still growing in my garden..not after today's snow,tho)

http://www.delish.com/entertaining-ideas/holidays/thanksgiving/get-ready-for-thanksgiving

Oh my goodness, love these stone walls!

http://www.delish.com/entertaining-ideas/holidays/thanksgiving/handcrafted-thanksgiving-holiday-decorations-111408?click=main_sr

Back to our Roots

http://coolfoodscampaign.org/thanksgiving/

Calculate the Greeness of your dinner

http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/

Check out AMomsLove Thanksgiving Home Page

http://www.amomslove.com/hol-home-thanksgiving.html

Six Ways to Save Money this Thanksgiving

http://www.amomslove.com/hol-thanksgiving-savMoney.html

Decorate for Thanksgiving

http://www.amomslove.com/hol-thanksgiving-decorate.html

Decorate Naturally

http://www.amomslove.com/hol-thanksgiving-dec_natural.html

Some of the things may not be on the ebay site...just do a curent search for

them.

Halloween

2008-10-24T21:37:00.003-04:00

The kids decorated the yard this year...
some grave stones under an old maple tree....the
biggest tree on the road.
a purple and orange sign that reads "Turn Back Now!"
A humongous orange and black sign saying "Happy Halloween"

Here are a few articles on amomslove magazine for Halloween:
Home Page
http://www.amomslove.com/hol-home-halloween.html

http://www.amomslove.com/hol-halloween.html
"Thoughts of Halloween often conjure haunting visions of buckets of candy, trays of caramel apples and oodles of other sugary snacks. "

Plan a Party
http://www.amomslove.com/hol-halloween-planparty.html

Ebook to buy
http://www.ilovehalloweencostumes.com/

Quick Homemade halloween Costumes
http://www.ladypens.com/quick-homemade-halloween-costume-ideas/

Buying a Spy Cam to Protect Your Child

2008-09-20T08:48:00.003-04:00

Ok, so you have thought about putting in a spy cam to watch your nanny/babysitter or to make sure your child is safe, but perhaps you aren't sure which company to choose.

mySpycam has several pros that will help make your choice easy:
First the price is good. You can get a good quality product from $99 - $500+.
Next, the quality of the lenses in the cameras and DVR's is extremely sound.

Also, the customer service is excellent. There is livechat on the site and of course you can always phone with any questions. Then, if you are not happy for any reason, just send the spy cam back and they will refund your money, no-questions asked guarantee! You can't beat that policy for making you feel good about your purchase.

mySpyCam shipping is through UPS, so you know you will get your product safely and in a timely manner. You can always use the UPS package tracker. (Plus, their shipping is also discrete....they ship in an unmarked boxed!)

They are the only company that provides you with a video tutorial to actually SHOW you how to install your spy cam. Besides, mySpy Cams are very easy to install.

The company takes pride in the products that they carry! The cams are of the best quality. They actually shop around looking for the best quality manufacturers, now that's something that doesn't happen everyday.

The cams can be used wireless (just like your laptop) and also may be seen via the internet. They are very easily obscured (hidden) because they look like everyday items, this means they are very hard to detect, things such as alarm clocks, baby wipes, etc are actually the spy cams.

Now, why would you want to buy a spy cam? Well, first of all just to give you peace of mind. You will not be guessing whether or not your nanny or babysitter is treating your child the way he or she should, you will KNOW!

Are you wondering, though, exactly HOW a spy cam works?
1) you connect the spy cam to a battery or a power supply and hide it.
2) you connect the wireless receiver to a battery or power supply and conect it to a recording device such as the VCR, DVR (digital video recorder) or to your computer if you want to view it from another place that has internet access.
3) and then, you tune the receiver to detect the video that the spy cam is transmitting.

There are two main types: wireless spy cams, and self-contained spy cams (spy cams that have everything you need, including the recording device in one unit.)

As you can see this company has thought of everything to provide you with the best service and the best product you can buy at the best prices!

Here are a few testimonials to read:
“The customer service was outstanding! I couldn’t ask for a better experience!”
- Yolanda R. El Paso, Texas

“I’m an idiot with electronics, but the camera I got was so easy… I just put the battery in and that was it! I can now watch my little girl while I’m at work!”
- Carrie F. Santa Clarita, CA

“I got the alarm clock cam to see if my girlfriend was cheating… she wasn’t! I was just paranoid. It was super easy though and I now use the spy cam to watch my house when I’m away.”

You can get your spy cam from Manny at My Spy Cam (905) 509-2226