I'm on a mission to learn more about food photography
and to improve the pictures on my blog here.

My mom and I were in a thrift store the other day
and I found these pieces


I paid a whole $1.75 for all three of them.
I'm in love with the blue plate!


I think all of these pieces will be a great addition - much better then my plain ol' white plates.


And this place mat will add some nice texture to my pictures.
I've already used the cream colored plate for a post going live next week!

That's all - just wanted to share what I bought!
Have a great day!

Sam



Today, I turn 33.



I feel like I must be getting older - because I'm not near as excited about this birthday as I have been of ones in the past.

Last year, I think we had friends over for a cook-out and when I turned 30, my hubby and two best friends snuck around and surprised me! They did good. My two BFs live in Kansas - we're in Nebraska. They surprised me with a huge weekend - we went out every night, got nails done, went shopping, ate and ate some more. It was so much fun. Probably one of the best birthdays ever. 


This year, we're going to go do some family stuff.
Chris said whatever I wanted to do...
So, we are going to:
-eat at Chick-fil-a (yep!)
- go hiking
- spend a day going junk store shopping

The boys don't mind those first two at all, the third will be like pulling teeth for the two little guys.
We'll probably have to spread it out over the weekend.

Anyways - we are off to do some fun stuff today!
You can follow all my adventures on Instagram.

If you want to give me a birthday present, I completely understand.
I lieu of cash...please follow me on






I love my glass-top stove. 
For the most part, it is extremely easy to keep clean.


For daily clean-ups, I use a mixture of vinegar and water.
But, last night I had a pan of cheesy goodness that boiled over.
And burned itself onto the stove.


They sell alot of cleaners just for glass-top stoves.
I have never found on that really works.
The best cleaner are 'brillo' pads along with vinegar and water. 


Make sure and spray the top of stove generously with your water and vinegar mixture.
Let sit for a minute or two. 


Take your brillo pad and start scrubbing the areas that need it. 
When I clean one spot on the stove - I clean all of the burners.
Make sure and test in a small spot first, to make sure it doesn't scratch your surface.


Wipe down everything really good with a dry paper towel and then spray some more of you vinegar and water mixture on it to shine it up and wipe again with a paper towel.


Look at that - a clean stove top!


BTW - My vinegar and water mixture is about 30% vinegar and the rest water, I also like to drop a little orange or lemon scented oil in there too. 

This was a short post today! Thanks so much for stopping by!





Do you have a kid with a curious mind?
I do - I have two of them!
My boys love learning about new things and I try to help expand their learning whenever I can.



I was recently send a package from Little Passports called the USA Edition Discovery Kit
The kit includes: 
-  a letter from the travelers Sophia and Sam
- the USA field guide
- scratch book
- USA wall map
- disposible camera


Ashton, my 9 year old, love the field guide and started filling out all the information about our state (Nebraska) - it also asks about states he's traveled to and alot of trivia questions about the US. 
Those questions got him in books and on the computer, looking for the answers.

Colton, our 4 year old, was more into the scratch book. He loved being able to draw pictures of the Statue of Liberty and of the Liberty Bell. 

They both loved the wall map and Colton wanted it to be hung in his room. We've made it into a game each night for them to name the states we point to. They also both loved the disposible camera and had fun taking it on our vacation! 

Little Passports works as a subscription service. You sign up for a 3,6 or 12 month plan and each month, your children will get a new booklet to learn about two new states plus stickers, pop-out models and postcards! 

I love the Little Passports Kit - my kids loved it and I thought it was a great learning tool for them!

I loved it so much, that I'm going to give one reader a free 3 month subsrciption!


a Rafflecopter giveaway
School here starts in about 2 weeks So I'm in the process now of getting prepared. Part of me being prepared is making sure I have a good supply of school lunches on hand. Our kids take their lunches to school, and having more then just PB&Js everyday is something they really enjoy. This recipe is super easy and takes less then a half hour to make!

I use my bread machine to make this bread - you could easily use some refrigerated biscuits or frozen bread dough.

Pizza Dough (for bread machine)

1 cup water
2 TBSP vegetable oil
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Put everything into the bread machine and turn to the "dough setting".

Additional ingredients needed:

Pizza Sauce
Pepperoni, Hamburger or Sausage
Mozzarella Cheese
Peppers, ect - add any pizza toppings you like!

After the dough is done, I roll is out as thin as I can and cut into triangles. Check out the pictures to see how to assemble these bad boys.

Lay them seam side down onto a greased cookie sheet. Poke three holes on the top of each one, to let the steam escape. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Let them cool completely. Toss into a freezer bag and into the freezer they go!

This makes about 10 Pizza Triangles for me. I make mine pretty big and usually one of them with some sides are enough for Ashton
The beauty of the Pizza Triangles in that you can put them into your kids lunch that morning and by the time they're ready to eat, it's defrosted and ready to eat.

You can also heat them in the oven in the morning, wrap in foil if the kids would prefer to eat them warm!







I swear.
This dog, Karlie.
I love this dog.

So...years ago, Chris and I had two dogs.
Dogs do their business in the yard.
In my book, picking up said business in the yard is a man's job.
Along with taking out the trash and scooping cat litter.

We had two dogs and a fairly small yard.
It's Chris' job to pick up the business.
But he would only do it maybe once a month. 
More often if we had company coming over.

It was gross.
I would hardly let the kids play in the backyard
because I don't want them to step in it!
This was always a source of tension for Chris and I.

Anyways.
Fast forward to now.
We have one dog.
But she's a big girl.
About a 70 pound German Shepherd.

Her business is huge.

We feed her good food, so it only happens about once a day.
Times seven...that's seven landmines in my yard each week.

Huge ones.

And she steps in it
I don't think she eats it...but can't say for sure.
I know the last time she was at the vets being boarded, they had to give her a bath...twice...because she liked to roll around in it.

Sorry - back to my story. 

Chris and I start "discussing" who should pick it up.
I think it's a "man job" and that he should.
He thinks I should because I'm the one that wanted the dog
Or he thinks Ashton should 
But Ashton really sucks at picking it up and it turns into a bigger disaster.

Wonder if Ashton does that on purpose so he doesn't have to pick up dog poop?
Hmmm?

Anyways, so we're are "talking about it" in the yard last week
and I was just disgusted.
With Chris, with the dog, with everything.

Side note...Chris and I never hire out for anything.
We mow our own grass, clean our own house, paint walls if needed.
We laid our own flooring.
It's very rare that we hire out for things. 

We're going back and forth about who gets to be the lucky one that picks up the dog poop.
And it's not going good.
I, of course, had to throw in that I should not be the one that has to clean it up because I do everything around here.
I take the dog for walks
I fix dinner and lunch and breakfast for everyone. Everyday.
I clean.
I had your children!
(I always have to throw that in.)

It was going no where. 
Then it hits me...
could we hire someone to pick up the dog business?

Yes you can!

For just a mere $7.00 a week a guy will come out and pick up all the dog poop and take it home with him.
Sounds good to me!

Chris didn't even have to give it a second thought.

The poop picker-upper guy came for the first time today.
He was in and out of here in about 15 minutes
and the yard looks fabulous.
Totally worth the $7.

And, I'm just going to chuck it up that I won that argument
because I came up with the solution.

Thanks for stopping by today. You can read more about my dog Karlie and how she thinks she's a weight lifter.



I have a family of four.
This means that laundry is never-ending in this house.


Actually, doing the laundry is not a big deal for me. 
It's certainly not a chore that I dread.
I don't mind sorting, washing or drying the clothes.

For some reason...
it's the putting the clothes away that I hate.
I've been known to have to put clothes back into the dryer, to get all the wrinkles out
because I've let it sit folded in the laundry basket too long.

{oh the shame}



I do like to save money when I wash clothes.
All the things that you need to get the laundry done, can get pricey!

Laundry soap, bleach, dryer sheets, stain remover...it all adds up!

While I haven't gotten to the point of making my own laundry soap
I have given up dryer sheets all together.
After reading about the chemicals in dryer sheets
and how they can remove the flame retardant stuff they put on children's bed clothes?

No, thank you!

I was recently sent a box of Woolzies Dryer Balls to try out.
Have you heard about these?
Wool balls you throw into your dryer - they work just like a dryer sheet
only without any of the chemicals!


Woolzies also help you save money by reducing your drying time 
by up to 25%!

We have a newer dryer, that some how can sense when the clothes in dry and turns off
the clothes dry super fast
so every time I'm using the Woolzies, I'm saving money!
Love it!
And they are good for up to 1,000 washes!!!! 
If you do one load a day....that's over TWO AND A HALF YEARS!

Here's a little more info from the Woolzies website...

WOOLZIES®, The All Natural Dryer Ball Set. This set of six handmade pure wool dryer balls are special in several ways. They deliver the same benefits for laundry as conventional fabric softeners WITHOUT all the nasty chemicals. They save everyone a lot of money by eliminating the need to continuously spend on fabric softener liquid and sheets. They cut down on the time it takes to dry a typical load by at least 25% thereby saving everyone even more money and cutting down on fossil fuel usage. Finally, being as that they are handmade in the democratic republic of Nepal, they provide a steady source of income to the desperately needy women of that developing nation.

So smile when you purchase a set of WOOLZIES®, because you know you're helping to make the world a more pleasant place for yourself, your family and future generations!


The best part is that they are letting me give one lucky reader a set of Woolzies Dryer Balls of their very own!






I was given a package of Woolzies in exchange for a review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions are 100% mine. Thanks and Good Luck!

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