Disney Diva @ Home

I have been making an effort to get my ducks in a row, so to speak, this fall. I want to get my house in order and try to be a little more up to date on my household chores. Now before I go any further let me say that the condition of my house, for good or bad, has very little to do with having friends over. I will always welcome my friends into my house, if they are willing, because people are more important than things. Honestly, if you are really my friend then you won't care that I have drips on my kitchen floor and there are more toys out than there is space to walk.

That being said, I am trying to make my house a little more organized and stay up to date on the cleaning so that my husband and I can enjoy a more peaceful and comfortable home. I took some inspiration from All Thing For Mom and made a list of daily and weekly chores. I printed it out and then had it laminated. It is hanging on my fridge and I use a wipe off marker to cross off the items I did that day and also write on additional things I need to do/remember that week. Lets be honest. The best part of any task is the satisfaction of crossing it off.

This has sort of been like learning to juggle. I went through the first week and did a little of each thing, even skipped some, but did a fantastic deep clean on others. The ones I did the deep clean on I have to maintain while I move on to another area the next week. Each area that has been deep cleaned is now a ball that I am trying to juggle as I maintain that area and tackle new ones.

I would say I am successfully juggling a few balls now and I'm motivated to continue. It is really nice to tackle a few tasks each day and not let them build up to one monumental task. I feel I can enjoy my relaxation time, if I get any, because I did all I had to do. Even though there is more to do, I know I will get to it on its scheduled day. 

So after 9 years of marriage and 3 children, I think I am finally learning to take care of my house. Lets hope I can keep it up...

This weekend the kids had a lot of fun with Daddy. It is hard on them when he works a lot and they were so excited to see him this weekend. Of course Daddy has all the best ideas and he decided to do a camp-out in the family room. He talked to me about it and I thought it was a great idea. I guess I didn't know what he meant...

I come into the room to see him setting up our outdoor camping tent. I thought he was going to make something out of cushions and blankets, not this Dad. He had the full tent set up with an air mattress and sleeping bags. The kids were really going to get a camp-in.

My kids know a bit about camping. We have gone camping most summers and actually went twice this summer. They were so excited. They brought all their special things into the tent and were ready for their adventure.

Unlike our regular camping trips they all laid in the tent and watched a movie. They had ice cream and some quality time together. Daddy and Ethan fell asleep before the movie was over though.

Sunday morning I came down to find them all in the tent coloring and having fun. I brought my husband a nice cup of tea (also different than camping trips) and the kids hung out until it was time to get ready for church. Finally, Sunday evening the tent had to come down. The kids were sad but we promised them we would have a camp-in again soon.

What fun activities have you brought in? Share your ideas so we can have ways to beat the boredom when cabin fever sets in.

Nicholas Sparks has got to be one of my favorite authors. I know many of his books have been made into movies like; Message in a Bottle, Nights in Rodanthe, The Last Song, and others. I have seen some of the movies but I prefer to just read his books. I just saw on Amazon.com that he has a new book called Safe Haven


I just got it on my kindle and I'm off to start reading it. I'm sure it will be as good as the rest. Check it out!



 

I just pulled this recipe out of the box. I haven't made it since last year and forgot how good it was. I at the whole thing myself over a few days...ok it was only 2. This is a great recipe for both zucchini lovers and haters. A great vegetarian dish too!

3 Tbs butter
1/2 large sweet onion sliced
2 zucchini 1/4" slices
1 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbs flour
1/2 c hot milk
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup munster cheese

Melt 2 Tbs butter and cook the onions about 15 min until tender but not brown. Add zucchini and cook covered 10 min. Add salt and flour and cook about a minute to get the raw flour flavor out. Add the milk and bring to a simmer. Cook until it starts to thicken, a few minutes. Pour into a small baking dish (6x8). Mix bread crumbs and cheese and sprinkle over dish. Dot with 1 Tbs of butter. Bake about 25 minutes (until hot, bubbly, and golden) at 400 degrees.

I think you could make this gluten free by just using corn starch to thicken and omit the bread crumbs. If you use the corn starch I would mix it into the milk instead of putting it directly in the pan. I'm sure it would still be good.

I made this again with chopped broccoli and it was just as good. I did share some with my husband this time.

I just read a very interesting article that I had to share. So I told you in my eating healthy post that I have tried to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our food, especially our "healthy" food. In fact I sent a message to Yoplait to let them know that I don't buy their yogurt now because it contains HFCS. I was not happy with their response. They basically blew me off.

Now I just read an article that said that the Corn Refiners Association just applied to the Federal Government to change the name of HFCS to corn sugar on labels. Very sneaky in my opinion because we are looking for HFCS on the label and we may not see it but will be eating it anyway. For more information on this you can read the article.

What do you think about this? Do you have concerns about HFCS too? Do you think its the same as sugar or that the body processes the fructose differently then the sucrose and therefore is not healthy for the body? Do you think they should be allowed to change the name on labels? Do you agree this is sneaky or do you think its smart? Leave a comment and let me know what you think. I am very interested in other people opinions on this.
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