Works For Me Wednesday: It's been such a long time!

It's been a long time since I've participated in Works For Me Wednesday so I'm excited to be back!

Here's what works for me:

If you are like me and do a lot of online shopping, then you need to be using Ebates.com.

All you have to do, is sign up on Ebates.com to get started.  Signing up is quick and free!

Once you've signed up, each time you need to do any online shopping, log into Ebates.com, choose the store you want to shop from (almost every major retailer you can think of is represented on Ebates.com) and start shopping.

 You will earn MONEY (not points, CASH) for each purchase you make through Ebates.  Ebates gives you a percentage back depending on which store you are shopping in. You actually get a check back from Ebates!

I have used this with great success.  I do a ton of online shopping, especially at Christmas so the cash adds up pretty quickly.

The only hard part about using Ebates is actually remembering to go to their site BEFORE you go to the website you want to shop at.  But, they've fixed that!  There's now an icon that takes two seconds to download to your tool bar that will be right there for you to see!  This icon will take you right to Ebates.  No excuses now!

If you are interested, please use this link to sign up.  Disclaimer:  I get cash for everyone who signs up using this link so please, sign up now with this link.

I know I sound like an infomercial, but if you shop online, you will earn cash back from Ebates!  And once you sign up, you can start referring people as well!

Ebates - It works for me!

For more helpful Works For Me Wednesday tips and tricks on anything and everything, visit Kristen and We Are That Family.

WFMW - Sometimes simple is brilliant!

Jennifer came over on Friday evening to pick up her kids who had been playing at our house.

As she was leaving, she exclaimed, "That's brilliant!"

She was referring to this note that I had posted on the garage door, the door that my family always uses to enter and exit our home.

I had to take snacks to Sarah's basketball game the next morning.  Anytime I need to remember something like that, I always post a note on the back door.

I've tried posting notes in other places but that usually doesn't work for me.  If the note is in the office or by the telephone, I'm going to see it 20 times before I leave for the basketball game, but that's not going to mean I'm going to remember the snacks as we are rushing out the door in an attempt not to be late.

I've tried putting the things I need to take with me on the kitchen table or by the telephone (which seems to be my station for all things important - or at least where important things pile up!), but typically if they have been there for a while, they become part of the landscape and I tend not to see them, which means I forget them.

So what works for me is a note on the back door so that it is the absolute last thing I see as I leave the house!

I know it's simple, but sometimes simple is brilliant!  ;)

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips and tricks, visit Kristen at We Are That Family.

Homemade Soap Scum Remover that really works!

I have been searching for a great cleaner to get rid of all the soap scum on my shower doors and I have finally found one that works!

And best of all, it's cheap and you make it from just two normal things you probably have around your house. 

The original recipe that I found came from here.

Homemade Soap Scum Remover

Ingredients

12 ounces of Dawn dish washing detergent
12 ounces of distilled vinegar

Directions
-Heat the vinegar in the microwave until hot.
-Add the Dawn and swirl around until the two are incorporated.
-Pour into a squirt bottle.

My shower doors were pretty grimy so I sprayed it on and left it for about 30 minutes.  Then I wiped it off with my trust Magic Eraser and rinsed it with water and taaaaa daaaaah!  My shower doors haven't been that clean in years.

Next up, I used my new cleaner on my pot lids.  No matter how hard I scrub those things I can't get them clean.  I sprayed this on them, left it for about 5 minutes, scrubbed with my Magic Eraser, rinsed and those grimy lids looked as good as new. 

I have also used it to clean my stove top and the bathroom sinks.

Go ahead, mix up a batch and get to cleaning.  You will not be disappointed!

And head on over to Kristen's place for more Works For Me Wednesday tips and tricks.

How To Repair Broken Powder or Eye Shadow

Don't you hate it when you drop your powder or your eye shadow and it cracks?  I do.

I usually throw the broken pieces away while cursing my clumsy fingers.

Well, hang on to your make-up bags ladies because I have discovered a simple and cheap repair trick! 

The next time your powder looks like this:

 Take some rubbing alcohol,

Pour a little alcohol into the powder and stir.  Start with a few drops and gradually add a few more until it becomes stir-able.  You will know when to add more and when to stop - you don't want it soupy but you do need to be able to mix it up.

 When it looks like this leave it alone for several hours or overnight:

And then - Ta da! You have this:

Your powder is magically put back together and can all be used again. The alcohol has disappeared and left your makeup intact.

For more wonderful Works For Me Wednesday tips, please head over to Kristin's place at We Are THAT Family.

Works for Me Wednesday - Put a Pin It Button at the end of your Blogger posts.

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to put a Pinterest Pin It button on your pinnable Blogger blog posts.

Please note, there are other tutorials out there that show you how to put a Pin It button on every post automatically.  That tutorial is nice if you have a lot of pinnable material and don't want to go through these steps each time.  However, the tutorials I have seen don't let you control what picture comes up with each pin and this one does.

I am going to stick with this way for a while.  It isn't as hard as it looks, I have just included every single step. Do it once and you will get it!

1. Open your blog in Blogger.
2. Write a fantastic blog post.
3. Make sure to include a picture that relates to your post. Pinterest loves good pictures and your post has a better chance of being pinned if it has a good picture.
4. Click on Publish Post.
5. Open another window in your browser and go to the Pinterest/Goodies page.
6. Scroll down this page until you see "Pin It Button for Websites". 
7. Go to the main page of your blog and click on the title of the blog post you just posted. You need to make sure to do this because you want the Pin It button to direct people to this particular post and not to the main page of your website.
8. Highlight the URL for this post.  Copy it by hitting "Ctrl" and "C".
9. Go back to the Pinterest/Goodies page and paste your blog post URL where it says "URL of the page the pin is on".
10. Go back to your blog post and put your mouse on the picture in your post.  Right click with the mouse.
11. Click on "View Image Info".
12. The URL for this picture will already be highlighted.  Copy it by hitting "Ctrl" and "C".
13. Go back to the Pinterest/Goodies page and paste your picture URL where it says "URL of the image to be pinned".
14. Then type a quick description of your post for example "20 steps to posting a Pin It button on your Blogger blog" or "Quick and Easy Enchiladas".
15. Then highlight all of the code that has been created in the box underneath the description.  
16. Copy the code by hitting "Ctrl" and "C".
17. Go to "Edit Posts" in your blog and click on the blog that you are creating the pin for.
18. Click the "Edit HTML" tab in the upper right of your blog post.
19. Place your mouse at the end of all the text from your post and copy the code from Pinterest/Goodies by hitting "Ctrl" and "V".
20. Click "Publish Post" and your Pin It button should be there in all of it's glory!

For more (and probably shorter) Works for Me Wednesday helpful hints, visit Kristen at We are THAT Family!

Pin It

Works For Me Wednesday - Coupon Codes

I just saved $45 in a matter of seconds!  How?  With a coupon code.

I buy lots of items online - in fact, all of my Christmas shopping was done online.  Every single bit of it.

And a great way to save money when shopping online is by using coupon codes.  All you have to do is Google the name of the store you are shopping at and the word "coupon code". 

For example, we need to renew our McAfee Antivirus Software.  As I was set to check out, my total was $89.99 but I noticed a box for a coupon code.  So I googled "McAfee Coupon Code".  Right away, I was directed to one of many coupon code websites and discovered that there was a code available for 50% off any purchase at McAfee. 

I copied the coupon code, pasted it in the correct spot on the check out page, hit "Apply Coupon Code" and voila!  My total was reduced to $45!
 
It took me under a minute to do it and I saved $45!

Every time I shop online, I search for coupon codes.  And it's easy to remember to do because every time you get to the check out page, usually right near the total price there will be a spot to insert a coupon code.  I use that as my reminder to Google for the coupon code.  As my kids would say, "Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!"

And saving $45 in under a minute "Works For Me"!

For me Works For Me Wednesday tips, head on over to Kristen's place!

Works For Me Wednesday - Lazy Laundry, Cheap Laundry

I don't like doing laundry but I've found that what works best for me is doing one load a day.

If I do one load a day, the loads are manageable.  Instead of being faced with large loads to wash, dry, fold, hang and put away, I just have one small amount each day.  It's sort of like spreading out the pain over each day instead of having to face a large, menacing mountain of laundry once a week.

And to make things even easier, I throw all of the laundry in together.  I never sort and I wash everything in cold water.  How's that for lazy and cheap?

But once school started, I was faced with a problem. The kids wear uniforms now and their shirts were white and their pants were blue.  I didn't want to have to do two loads every day but I also didn't want their white shirts to get dingy.

A friend of mine told me about Shout Color Catcher.  It looks like a dryer sheet but you throw it in with the wash and any color that comes out of dark clothes is absorbed into this sheet.  So you can wash whites and colors together with no worry.

I  found a generic version of this product in Wal-Mart and have been using for a month now and I love it.  It really does catch color.  Typically when I pull it out of the laundry it is a bluish blackish color from the kids blue pants. 

But this morning when I did a load with no blue uniform pants, the absorber sheet was a reddish color thanks to a new burgundy t-shirt of Peter's.  

Color absorbers work for me!

For more Works For Me Wednesday, please check out Kristen's blog, We Are THAT Family.

One Pot Spaghetti.

One of the dinners I make almost every week is spaghetti.  I usually keep everything on hand so I can just throw it together whenever I need to and it is one of the few dinners I make that everyone will eat without complaining. 

But I hate the clean up.  I don't know why but it just seems like there are so many dishes to clean when you make spaghetti.  There's the pot you use to boil the noodles.  There's the strainer you use to strain the noodles.  And there's the big pan you use to fry the beef and cook the sauce.

And I know you guys are probably thinking, um, that's only like three dishes.  And that's what I think every time I make it  until I go to actually wash those three dishes.  I think part of the problem is that the noodle pot and the frying pan I use for the beef/sauce are just so big and the strainer is just annoying to wash.  So even though it's only like three dishes, they are three very bulky and annoying dishes to wash, thus making it feel like six dishes.  Or maybe seven.

So to solve this little conundrum, I have been making One Pot Spaghetti with greatsuccess.  The spaghetti is good, my family loves it and there is only One Pot to wash.

So without further ado, here is how I  make it.

Beth's One Pot Spaghetti

1 lb ground beef
32 oz of spaghetti sauce
spices to taste (salt, pepper, italian spices, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, minced onions, etc.)
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups water
1/2 box of noodles, broken into thirds

• Brown the ground beef in a large pot. Add spaghetti sauce and spices.  (I like my spaghetti sauce saucey so I use about 32 ounces.  You can use less and it won't matter.  I throw in whatever spice combination I can easily grab.  My sauce is different every single time but it is always good!)
• Add 1 cup of broth and 2 cups of water and bring back up to a boil.
• Add noodles and turn heat to medium or medium low.
• Cook for about 17 minutes.  
• Enjoy!

And instead of washing three big pots, you only have one to wash.  And with all that extra time you save, you can go fold that big pile of laundry that's waiting for you!

For more great tips, visit Works For Me Wednesday hosted by Kristin at We Are THAT Family.

How to keep track of all those library books.

If your house is like mine, you have a lot of books.  You have books on your book shelves, books in your playroom, books in your kid's rooms .  Books everywhere.

And then you take the kids to the library and you get more books.  And when it's time to return your books to the library you can't find them because the library books are now on your book shelves, in your playroom, in your kid's rooms.  Library books everywhere.

This used to happen to me all of the time.  Until I finally got smart.  The minute we get home from the library the books go into the library book basket.  And they aren't allowed on our book shelves, in our playroom, in our kid's rooms...you get the picture.

When we are done with these books they go back into the basket and when it's time to make a trip to the library they are all right there.

Sounds so simple, but it works so well.

For more Works for Me Wednesday, head over to We are THAT Family.

Lazy Couponing Works for Me

About a year and a half ago, I decided to save money by couponing.  I read all of the money saving websites, clipped every single coupon and tried to play the coupon game at CVS and Walgreens.

And I hated it.  gasp

There.  I said it.  I hated it.

I know there are thousands of people who stock pile items this way and save hundreds and hundreds of dollars every year and get very excited when they buy a whole grocery cart full of cereal and toothpaste for mere pennies.  And I know this should excite me and I guess it would have except for that time I bought a giant bottle of Sambucal and then accidentally let $21 worth of CVS bucks expire.

It was at this point that I realize I didn't have the energy or the gumption to clip every single coupon every week, scour the sale ads, match up coupons to sales and spend hours on all of the money saving websites.

Now don't get me wrong.  I have several friends that do this and I have a huge amount of respect for them.  But I am too lazy.  But at the same time, I feel that throwing away all of those coupons that come anyway in my Sunday paper is a waste.

So I come up with a system that works for me.  I keep each coupon circular.  And I mark the front of them with the date and toss them in a folder.  I have separate folders for Red Plum, Proctor and Gamble and Smart Source.  This takes me about 30 seconds. 

And when I see something as I am casually flipping through the weekly food circulars that I know I am going to get anyway that happens to be on sale and wonder if there is a coupon out there to match it, I head to

CouponTom.com

This site is awesome.  All you do is type in a product name and it will tell you if there is a coupon out there for it, how much the coupon is worth, which circular it came from and when it expires.  It also has a 'clip' feature.  If you know you are going to use this coupon, you 'clip' it (by hitting clip) and it will mark it so that you don't think you have this coupon when you do future searches.

I know I'm not saving tons of money this way but I am saving some money, I'm not spending hours clipping coupons I'm never going to use and I can spend the rest of the time happily reading blogs...WORKS FOR ME!

For more Works For Me Wednesday, please visit Kristin.

Easy way to peel, core and slice onions.

I hate to peel onions. It seems I'm always getting the brown skin everywhere and I usually lose half of the onion trying to get it off. And then I do a horrible time chopping the onion.

But I recently discovered simple and easy way to peel, core and slice onions.

Check this out....

Get out your hand dandy apple slicer/corer. Slice off the top and the bottom of the onion so the onion doesn't slip.

Place the apple slicer/corer on top.

Push down.

Now that the apple is cored and sliced you can easily peel off the brown skin.

And remove the core.

And voila...perfect onion slices!

For more tips and tricks, please check out Works For Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.

And lest you think I am a complete genius, I saw this trick in Cooking Pleasures magazine.

“Like little drops of heaven you can eat.”

Early last week, I decided that this past weekend I would make biscuits for breakfast. I realized after multiple trips to McDonald’s on our trip up and back from Massachusetts that my kids love biscuits. And really, what’s not to love?

So I informed my husband we would be having biscuits. He is reticent to change so I thought I should let him know early that our normal breakfast of Saturday muffins and Sunday cinnamon buns was going to be interrupted.

Intrigued, he asked, “Homemade?”

“Ha!” I scoffed. “They will be Pillsbury. You know I don’t roll out dough.”

He looked disappointed but I didn’t let that stop me from purchasing a can of biscuits at the grocery store on Monday afternoon.

Then on Wednesday morning I was reading the newspaper and low and behold they had a huge article on food scientist Shirley Corriher. She is a cookbook author (Cookwise and Bakewise) whose first book inspired Alton Brown’s show Good Eats.

And both of her cookbooks have won awards from the James Beard Foundation. And if you watch as much Top Chef as I do then you know that’s a big deal.

The newspaper mentioned that her BISCUIT recipe was so famous that she included it in both of her cookbooks.

I read through the recipe and when I realized that I would not have to roll out any dough, I decided to make it.

And y’all…I am so glad I did.

These things were easy to make. They were quick to make. And best of all THEY WERE WONDERFUL!

Over breakfast, my husband leaned over to my son and whispered to him, “These are like little drops of heaven you can eat!”

I asked him why he didn’t say that out loud to me and he said because he didn’t want it to go to my head.

I spent the better half of Sunday twirling around and saying, “My biscuits are like little drops of heaven you can eat!”

My husband knows me too well.

Oh! And it gets better. Shirley Corriher also included a Cherry Chambord Butter recipe that was wonderful on these biscuits. In fact, it is so good, I’ve been eating it by the spoonful.

So without further ado…here are the recipes…

Touch of Grace Biscuits

Recipe from Shirley Corriher's Bakewise.

Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups self-rising, low-protein flour, such as Southern Biscuit, White Lily, Martha White
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup shortening
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup buttermilk or more
1 cup plain all-purpose l flour, for shaping
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for brushing

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees and arrange one shelf slightly below the center of the oven. Spray an 8- or 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the self-rising flour, sugar and salt. Work the shortening in with your fingertips until there are no large lumps. Gently stir in the cream, then some of the buttermilk. Continue stirring in buttermilk until the dough resembles cottage cheese. It should be a wet mess -- not soup, but cottage-cheese texture. If you are not using a low-protein flour, this may require considerably more than 1 cup buttermilk.

3. Spread the all-purpose flour out on a plate or pie pan. With a medium-size ice cream scoop or spoon, place 3 or 4 scoops of dough well apart in the flour. Sprinkle flour over each. Flour your hands. Turn a dough ball in the flour to coat, pick it up and gently shape it into round, shaking off the excess flour as you work. Place this biscuit in the prepared pan. Coat each dough ball in the same way and place each shaped biscuit scrunched up against its neighbor so the biscuits rise up and don't spread out. Continue scooping and shaping until all of the dough is used.

4. Place pan on the arranged shelf in the oven. Bake until lightly browned, about 20 to 35 minutes. Brush with the melted butter. Invert pan onto one plate, and then back onto another. With a knife or spatula, cut quickly between the biscuits to make them easy to remove. Serve immediately.
Makes 12 to 14 medium biscuits.

Cherry Chambord Butter

Recipe from Shirley Corriher's Bakewise.

½ cup butter
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
2 tablespoons Chambord or other raspberry liqueur **
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons cherry preserves

1. Place the butter, cream cheese, liqueur and confectioners' sugar in a food processor with a steel blade. Process to blend well. Stir in the preserves by hand. Chill well before serving. The butter will keep well for several weeks in a closed jar in the refrigerator.

**I did not use the liqueur and threw in an extra tablespoon of the preserves.

Touch of Grace Biscuits

The Cherry Butter

One of the “Little Bites of Heaven You Can Eat”. My husband has never been more right!

For more tips, tidbits and easy recipes, visit We Are THAT Family for Works For Me Wednesday.

Easy Method For Husking and Silking Corn on the Cob

This time of year I love serving fresh corn on the cob. But I hate getting the husks and the silks off. Hate it!

But I have discovered a simple technique that makes cooking and husking easy. Just follow these easy steps and you will be nibbling on corn on the cob in no time!

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Place corn (husks and all) on a cookie sheet.
• Heat in the oven for 30 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cool for a couple of minutes.
• Start peeling off husks. You will find that they are super easy to remove and the silk (that dreaded silk!) practically slides right off! (And I have been known to use an oven mitt for this if I'm in a hurry and can't wait for it to cool a little.)

Enjoy!

And for more summer recipes, visit Kristin at We Are That Family.

Another use for all that conditioner you get free at CVS and Walgreens.

Today's Works For Me Wednesday is the Frugal Tip Edition.

About a month ago I was looking forlornly into my hall closet lamenting the fact that I have 5 bottles of conditioner and none of them was the type I prefer for my hair.

I had 5 bottles of conditioner because I got them all free using coupons and Extra Care Bucks from CVS. Seems like every time I went to CVS to get my free Sunsilk Conditioner, they had every other type of Sunsilk on the shelf except the volumizing kind that I love. So I ended up getting the kinds that I don't like figuring I could give them away or just use them and walk around with unvolumized hair.

Two weeks ago I was at my MOPS meeting when Heather (hi, Heather!) was giving a talk on Frugal Living. One of her tips was to use conditioner instead of shaving cream.

As soon as she mentioned conditioner I thought about all that free unused conditioner I had sitting in my hall closet.

So for the past two weeks I have been using conditioner instead of shaving cream and it works great! Just rub a small amount on your leg (or whatever body part you happen to be shaving) and shave as normal. There won't be any sudsy lather but that's not necessary. Just make sure there is a little bit of conditioner on the area you are shaving. I use about a dime size for each leg (from the knee to the ankle).

My legs are soft and smooth and I don't know if it's my imagination but the hair on my legs seems to be growing slower. Most likely it's that the conditioner is making the hair softer but it seems to me that my legs aren't as scratchy and stubbly at the end of the day as they are when I use shaving cream.

I finally found a use for all that free conditioner, I won't have to buy shaving cream for months AND my legs are softer and smoother than ever. Combine that with my previous tip on making your razors last longer and I feel like a shaving guru.

Visit Kristin at We are THAT Family for more Frugal Works For Me Wednesday tips.

Monster Spray - Or an alternate use for a can of Glade that doesn't really smell like a Country Garden.

Peter loves monsters, ghosts and skeletons. He loves anything creepy, spooky or scary.

And all of this is well and good until bedtime. And then when it's time to be alone in the dark, his imagination kicks into overdrive - and he gets scared.

One night several weeks ago as I kissed him goodnight, he told me he was afraid that there might be monsters in our house and asked me to stay in his room all night.

I told him emphatically there were no monsters in our house and that there were no such things as monsters anyway.

But he didn't believe me and continued to ask me to stay with him.

I already had several shows lined up on the DVR that were calling to me from downstairs so I had to think fast.

I ran into the bathroom and grabbed a can of Glade air freshener. I took it back to Peter's room and said, "Look! Monster spray!"

He was intrigued and asked, "Monster spray? What's monster spray?"

So I started spraying the Glade under his bed and in his closet - you know, all the places scary monsters are known to hide. And as I was spraying, I was telling him that the smell of the spray scared the monsters away. Because everyone knows that monsters are mean, dirty creatures and that the monster spray smells so pretty and flowery that they have to run away from it as soon as they smell it.

He bought it. He got so excited that he wanted to use the spray himself. After a few more shots of Glade Country Garden, he climbed under his covers, said good night and immediately fell asleep.

And we have sprayed the monster spray diligently before bedtime every night for the last three weeks.

The only downside to the monster spray is that now every evening my upstairs smells like Glade Country Garden but my son is sleeping peacefully so it Works For Me.

For more Works For Me Wednesday, please visit Kristin at We Are THAT Family.

Helpful Hint For Getting Eye Drops Into Kid's Eyes - WFMW

Sarah woke up on Sunday morning with her left eye puffy and matted.

Pink eye!

I knew it was bound to happen. Her friend Cheyanne had pink eye the week before so I knew it was only a matter of time until Sarah got it.

And I knew the doctor was going to prescribe the dreaded eye drops. And I knew it was going to be a battle to get them into her eyes.

But the doctor gave me a helpful hint which has worked well for us.

She suggested that Sarah lie down on the couch and close her eyes. Then I was instructed to put a couple of the eye drops just slightly above the corner of her eye and have her start blinking.

The eye drops roll down into her eyes as she is blinking.

And believe it or not, this has worked so well for us. I don't have to pry her eyelids open to get the drops in. She doesn't scream when the drops land in her eyes or when they miss her eyes all together and end up in her nose because she's kicking and screaming.

Sarah actually seems to enjoy taking eye drops now. In fact, she asks if it's "time to do the drops".

Side note - A funny thing that we have discovered is that Sarah has a hard time blinking when she's lying down. When I tell her to blink she squeezes her eyes closed and begins to open and close her mouth instead of opening and closing her eyes. She looks like a fish gulping for air. So to combat this, after I squeeze in the drops, I have her sit up slightly before she begins to blink.

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips, head over to We Are THAT Family.

Happy Shaving!

I have a quick and easy tip to share that will help you keep your razors cleaner so that you can use them longer.

Use your Magic Eraser on them!

I keep a Magic Eraser in my shower and after each shave, I wipe the razor with it. A couple of swipes gets the built up shaving cream and gunk off and my razor is like new for the next shave.

A razor can last a month or more doing this!

And this is especially good if you are like me, and got spoiled using those fancy expensive disposable razors when you could get them about 6 months ago practically free thanks to coupons and sales.

I can still use the fancy expensive disposable razors but now, I can use them and use them and use them and use them and use them and use them....

This is the build-up after just one shave! Eww....

This is what the same razor looks like after just a couple of swipes with the Magic Eraser. Much better! (Please note...I have been using this razor blade for a month and it's about time for a new one...but I think it's probably still got a few more uses in it!)

Happy shaving! And for more Works For Me Wednesday tips, please visit Kristin at We Are That Family.

WFMW. Forget the sugar. We use applesauce.

Peter has to take Claritin every morning to keep his nose from running right off his poor little face.

When the doctor first prescribed them he asked if Peter had any trouble taking pills.

Any medication I had given him up until that point had been liquid. So not knowing how well he would be able to swallow the pills, his doctor prescribed dissolvable Redi-tabs.

These things worked great but were very expensive. So when we were out of the dissolvable tablets Peter asked for "real pills...the kind you swallow" so I happily purchased the much cheaper generic Claritin in pill form.

Our first attempt didn't go very well. The pill just sat on Peter's tongue. He tried gulping and swallowing but it just sat there. I kept yelling, "Swallow! Swallow! Pretend it's food!" But he was not able to get that little pill to go down.

So I got a big spoonful of applesauce and plunked the pill on top of it.

Then Peter ate the spoonful of applesauce and the pill went right down with the applesauce.

We used the applesauce trick for several days until Peter was ready to try again. Now he is able to swallow the pill with just milk.

Peter's nose isn't runny and my wallet isn't empty. Applesauce and Claritin. It Works For Us!

Please visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday.

Photo Cards That Actually Say "Merry Christmas"!

Every year it seems harder and harder to find a place with a good selection of photo Christmas cards that actually say "Merry Christmas" as opposed to "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings".

I want my Christmas cards to say "Merry Christmas"! Is that so wrong? I mean, it is Christmas after all!

So imagine my delight when I came across VistaPrint!

VistaPrint is a great online print shop that has tons and tons of photo Christmas cards to choose from and guess what? There is an excellent selection of cards that actually say "Merry Christmas".

In addition to cards with space for one picture, they also have many cards with space for multiple pictures. But, I had a hard enough time getting one photo I liked of the kids, much less three or four. Maybe next year...

And in addition to a large selection of cards that say Merry Christmas...they are reasonably priced! I got 100 photo cards, envelopes, 140 FREE matching return address labels and shipping for $37.00.

All that and Merry Christmas! Now that, Works for Me!

Works For Me Wenesday - It's all about the sauce!

It is always a struggle to kid my kids to eat their vegetables. If it's green and placed on their plate,they will not eat it - especially Peter.

And they are completely over Ranch dressing as a dipping sauce unless there is a nugget involved.

So in my quest to get them to eat more vegetables, I tried out a new dipping sauce...hollandaise!

I love hollandaise sauce but most of the recipes I have found for it are a little too complicated for a simple cook like me.

But I searched until I found one that looked doable and I made it one evening when we were having broccoli.

The results can be summed up in one word - YUM!

It was so good that I was practically licking the bowl when I ran out of broccoli to dip in it. And the kids managed to eat a small serving of broccoli without too much gagging, so I considered it a smashing success.

Here is the recipe for Easy Hollandaise Sauce:

1/2 cup butter
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne pepper or hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons hot water

Heat butter in a heavy saucepan until hot and foamy, but not browned. In a small bowl, whisk or beat egg yolks with lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper or hot sauce. Gradually beat in butter, then water. Return mixture to saucepan and beat over very low heat until mixture is slightly thickened. Serve immediately or let stand over warm water for up to 30 minutes.

(Recipe courtesy of About.com)

If you are looking for more tips, head on over to Rocks In My Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday.