5 Tips to help you in the Kitchen/Laundry Room

 Here are a couple things I have learned over the past couple years that have made my life a little easier. I want to share them with you!

1. Spend the extra dollar on your laundry detergent.

I have used Purex laundry detergent for the past several years. It was a cheaper brand and I though it made my clothes smell ok... But I can always tell when someone is standing next to me and are using a different brand. Their clothes always smell fresh, and I can smell it just by standing next to them! Mine never did that. I recently switch to Tide. When I was using Purex I would put 2 lid fulls of detergent in the wash EVERY TIME. Now I just put one lid full and my clothes smell better than they ever did when I used Purex. I might be spending a little more on the detergent bottle but I may have been spending the same amount on Purex since I was putting 2 lid fulls in every time! I went through it so much quicker than using Tide.THE SWITCH WAS WORTH IT!

2. 2 words- Aluminum foil.

If your really bad at keeping up with the dished like I am, put your food on a sheet of aluminum foil instead of a baking sheet when cooking in the oven. You can just through it away when your done or just wrap up your left overs in the same sheet you cooked them on.

Also, to keep your oven clean at the bottom, place a layer of aluminum foil on the very bottom rack. You can leave it in there until it gets really dirty and food starts burning on it. Keeps the oven clean!

3. Hamburger Helper is your friiiieennnd!

Trust me. Just go to the isle in Wal-Mart and look at all their selections. They have chicken dinners now too!

4. Canola VS. Vegetable

So which is it? After my extensive Google search, I have found that both are ok! You can use either one in any recipe. The difference is that canola oil is actually better for your heart because it contains less saturated fat. So if your baking and making a delicious cake or brownie, I recommend using vegetable oil. :)

5. Manage your cooking time.

Before deciding on a certain dish for dinner, take a look at the entire recipe. Look at the bake time! You may be thinking, "Oh that looks good, I'm just going to whip that up really fast." When really, this dinner takes an hour to cook! And you completely missed that part, and your half way through preparing it and realize how much longer you have to go but your staaarrrrving! 

Another advantage to reading through the entire instructions is you may realize you are supposed to do something with part of an ingredient that you didn't realize. So you dumped the entire amout of flour in the bowl when really you just needed half and you were supposed to use the other half for something else.

Hope these help! Add on if you know of any other great household tips!

Mother's Day

How was everyone's Mother's Day? My family is from Tulsa so hubby and I went there for the weekend. As you get older does it seem like an entire weekend with the parentals is a little long?? But of course we had a great time as always and kept busy both days! 

One thing we did on Saturday morning was walk/jog in a 5K. This was VERY interesting because I do not jog. Or walk. Or exercise. I was SO SORE the next day! I could hardly move! The run started on riverside at the Blue Rose Cafe. If you ever go to Tulsa, OK this is a restaurant worth going to. Especially during the summer. The whole thing is practically outside and hangs over the river. If your too cheap for a beach or lake vacation or just can't get away you can at least go here and pretend!! The food is awesome too and they have multiple bars so plenty of drink drink! This is a pic taken from the river.  I found it on http://heavycontractors.com/blue-rose-cafe/. They are the company who built it!

Anyway, this is where the run started. My mom found an old friend she hadn't seen in years who ended up being one of the ladies putting on the run. They walked the entire thing together and my mom learned about becoming a volunteer for the cause. The volunteer program putting on the run was called Dress for Success. Its a great program that helps women out of work with finding a job and getting them business clothes for interviews. 

While mom was walking with her friend, my dad and I took on a task of our own... not being last! He encouraged me the entire way. We started out jogging, then when I would get to the point of almost falling over we would stop and walk. Then once I caught my breath we would pick a spot to start jogging again and go for as long as we could. If I can do this anyone can do this! And we did achieve our goal of not coming in last. In fact my dad came in 2nd in his age bracket!  Here is a pic of us before the race.

Lesson learned: Dress the way you want people to portray you. As I mentioned before, I do NOT work out and this morning more than one person asked me something about the race saying that it looked like this wasn't my first time. Ha! Then just pretend you know what your talking about and you will not only look the part, but sound the part! haha!

Sunday we went to a new place downtown called the Guthrie Greens, named after Woody Guthrie I think.... It was a pretty fun little place. They have a small market set up on the sidewalk with food and crafts. The rest of it is pretty much people sitting out in a huge lawn area listening to whatever local band is playing. Its a pretty relaxed atmosphere. A great place to spend the day lounging and sipping on some good wine or beer. 

Here is the exciting part though... we got there by riding these electric scooters my mom and dad just purchased! I think the fastest they go is about 40 mph so we stick to the slower streets with less traffic. They were really fun!  Below: my mom and I on their scooters with the Guthrie Greens behind us.

After we left the Guthrie Greens we stopped by the center of the universe and listened to ourselves echo.  This is my dad and I at the center of the universe. :)

Hello all! I'm Jennifer and this is my blog about projects, pets, hubbies, family, learning to be patient, cooking, baking, and life! I am a girl who until married did not realize the patients and somewhat skills I had at just about everything in my life. I did not truly realize this until a few weeks ago when my mom was watching me through the day and started talking to me about all the different things I do and how I act with my puppy and so on. This was a little humorous to me because I have never looked at myself that way. But she and my Aunt decided I should really start a blog! They also decided this blog should be about my everyday life. What its like to be a wife and a puppy mommy who cooks, cleans, sews, helps her husband in the yard, etc.

I decided this was a good idea so I did some research and now I'm here! 

To start things off, here is a little about myself: I graduated from college in 2010 with a degree in Graphic Design and a focus in Illustration. This just means I like to draw more than I enjoy placing words on a poster, yet, at the same time have the ability to do so if my little heart desired.

I got married in June 2010 to my hard working hubby. He is a Jack of all trades and I believe that he is the main reason I have become a Jill of all trades. We both enjoy doing so many things, working on projects together and separately. We can do a lot but are by no means professionals at anything we do. Just a couple of kids working our way through projects and life and figuring it out on the way!

We stayed in our college town (this is where we met) and I now work for a local screen printing and sports store. I do all the t-shirt designs that come through our store. Its a great company and a really fun job.

Hubby and I recently invested in an English Bulldog puppy. WOW. First off, let me just tell you, I have never in my life owned a puppy of any kind. Kittens and cats. yes. But never a puppy. He has actually been a very well behaved puppy compared to others that we have met. We have not had a single item that was not one of his toys chewed to pieces yet. He is a little stinker and can have quite an attitude. These dogs often get mistaken for being dumb, but they are definitely not that! They are extremely stubborn and once you own one, you will understand it and see it in their expressions. Yes, these dogs HAVE facial expressions like you wouldn't believe. 

Anyway, about a few months after we got him he ingested something that caused him to have a very bad infection in his leg joint. It was swollen so bad that I though it was broken. The past couple months he has been on antibiotics for it. I had to take him to the vet this morning to see if the infection was gone but it wasn't. The vet said their was still swelling and I had to leave him there for the day so they can drain the joint again.  I have never spent so much money on an animal in my life. But at the same time he is a puppy and he's just so stinking cute that he is well worth it! Hopefully the vet will get rid of the infection and  Captain (our puppy's name) can continue a healthy life!