Kids back to school-What about the pets?

Good Morning all,  It's back to school today.  The boys went to their youth group meeting the other day and Frankie was sitting by the front door anxiously waiting for them to return.  This got me to thinking what's going to happen when school starts.  Pets love us and give us comfort. In the case of cats their purring as a calming soothing effect on the human central nervous system.  Some of them are our therapist--Frankie falls into that category.  He's Conor's form of therapy for anxiety.  Unfortunately, Frankie will never be licensed my AMA because he hates men.  Yes, he loves Conor and kyle but anybody else who's male gets pawed and bit.  My maintenance man jokingly calls him my attack cat.  So, what do you do for your pets.  If your home try to give a little extra attention.  Make sure they have plenty of food and water. If no ones home put the radio or TV on for them to not feel alone. I do this because Frankie is a Snowshoe and they don't like to be left alone.  He lets me know he's not happy about it. When you come home, talk to them and praise them.  Have the kids when they come home, give extra special attention until pets get used to idea. In Frankie's case, he gets to go for a walk on his leash several times a week.  Here's the pic's of Frankie enjoying himself.

Did you say go bye, bye?

                                           












Walks over please change the water, I need a drink.

Shopping Trip at CVS and SaveMart Savings

Good Afternoon all hit CVS and SaveMart today.  Here's What I got at CVS

This contained: 2 scissors
                       1 package paper
                       12 roll big pack angel soft
                       2 bags circus peanuts
                       2 elmers glue
                       1 lemon water
                       1 paper mate package pens
                       1 package bottle2pen love these
                       1 bic wite out
                       2  packages dividers
                     

 TOTAL   before coupons/sales/e-gift cards     $42.63              AFTER   $15.91



                                                         SaveMart

Their having the  pick 5/$25 meat sale always a good deal.  Here's what I got.

Here's the break down:  11 packages of meat
                                      2 Pop tarts packages
                                      1 Kellogg's Cereal
                                      2 bags candy
                                      3-12 oz sodas

TOTAL  $103.87                                    After sales and coupons  $76.72


If you have not done swag bucks do so that's how I saved at CVS alot this time used the ecards from the program.  Have a good weekend.

frankies corner--Do Your Cats Watch TV?

Get That Thing Outta My Face

                                                       
                                           Ah!  Can't A Cat Have Any Fun Make It Spin Mom.


I have to ask the question do your cats watch TV?  Well, Frankie can be caught watching TV, but wouldn't you know it he's camera shy.  We discovered this while watching Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.  His poor little eyes got so big when he heard and saw the crows. He crawled under his favorite blanket and wouldn't come out for quite a while.  Yes,  Frankie is also a Foodie (so is everybody else in this family).  Please help me,  HE LOVES GORDON RAMSEY.  He will sit in front of the TV and watch Master Chef with his paws out in front. I guess because everybody else is watching it too.  Maybe we should call him Frankie the Foodie Cat.  Have a good weekend and next week we'll try for pic's of him on his leash.

Celebrate Hostess with a Trifle

I decide since our favorite snack was back on the shelf to make a trifle in honor of  Hostess.  It was going to be a Twinkie Trifle but everybody is wiping out the shelves at Wal-Mart.  So we did a little substitution with some of the ingredients to make this for everyone to enjoy.  I got interested in Trifle's when I was in the military, my boss had been stationed in England and learned all about them.  She made one for x-mas and I got to try it.  It was in such a pretty crystal bowl I decide I wanted one too.








 Here's a list of the ingredients I used in my trifle.

                                                   2 boxes of hostess cupcakes
                                                   2 boxes of strawberries hulled
                                                   1 carton premade chocolate pudding
                                                   1 can whipped cream
                                                 

I started by cutting the cupcakes in half and layering the trifle bowl. I put the bottom pieces on the bottom of the trifle dish.  I layered the top pieces around the edge of the bowl.  When the first layer was done, I put the strawberries in and then spread a layer of pudding on top (2 cups per layer of pudding). The using a circular motion put the whipped cream on top.  I repeated the layer of strawberries and pudding.  Then I spread another layer of whipped cream and voila topped with a strawberry.  Their you go enjoy your trifle.

The Housing Experiment

I have a fun and interesting question to propose.  If your teenage children could be on their own for a week how would they do? My sons and I have talked about the possibility of a separate apartment in our next home.  I like this idea because they can learn how to take care of themselves.  Their is also the fact if and when this disease of mine gets worse.  They can still help me out and have their independence as well.  Because its no fun when your an adult and have to live with family members. You still need your space. Of course when college is done, they move on to their own place.  So how do you prepare young adults for living on their own.

 First off,  they've got to be able to feed themselves.  They can't blow their paychecks on fast food and its killer on the weight.  If they don't already help with the cooking have them start.  Teach them to cook simple basic meals.  I found out the other day after the microwave blew a fuse, the boys did not know how to brown meat or fry bacon in a frying pan.  So we had a little lesson involving the frying pan.

I know this probably sounds weird but do they know how to do their own laundry.  Have them help sort the laundry, figure out what setting to put it on in the machine (kyle has trouble with that one) and can it go in the dryer and what setting.

 Shopping is another thing.  Can they stick to a list and get what they need?  Have they ever used a debit or EBT card to pay for something?  Ask them and then show them how to do what needs to be done.  I had to send them shopping when the knee was really bad and they used the EBT for the first time.  They enjoyed it and gained a little independence. Some things to think about to give your teen a better start in the world.  Ever consider what three things they should have in their first apartment.  Here's my picks. What are yours?

1. Set of pots and pans
2. Microwave
3. Vacuum Cleaner

                                                       Here's one of my favorite recipes

                                                       small bag elbow macaroni (8 oz bag)
                                                       1 small onion chopped
                                                       1 cup pickle relish
                                                       2 cans tuna packed in water drained
                                                       2 cups very veggie salad mix tear up into smaller pieces
                                                       2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
                                                       1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Cook the noodles until aldente. Run cold water over noodles.  Put onions, pickle relish, tuna and salad mix in bowl with noodles.  Mix together then add mayonnaise and lemon juice.  Mix them again.  Place dish in refrigerator until chilled.  Can be main dish or side dish for lunch or dinner.

Savings at SaveMart

Good Morning all,  I went to Savemart yesterday and I think I did pretty good.  They are having a big sale on Kelloggs through Tuesday. The sale is you buy six kellogss you get them for $1.77 a box. .  So, check it out.  Before you go, the back to school issue of All You has $5 worth of kelloggs coupons in the back of the magazine i.e. cereal, rice crispie treats, cereal bars and keebler cookies.  The sale is you buy six kellogss you get them for $1.77 a box.  Also near the big display is a booklet with more kelloggs coupons.  The catalina was spitting out a 20% off at Payless.  Here's what I got good luck and many savings to all.

2 Gallons of milk - used $2 off when buying 2 cereal

2 Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies

2 Kelloggs Cereal

2 Kelloggs Fruit Snack

2 Special K cereal bars used $1 produce when buying 2 bars

2 Rice Krispies Treat boxes

2 Kelloggs Poptarts the 12 count size

2 strawberry cartons B1G1F

Bunch of Bananas

8 ct Mission Tortillas

1 dozen eggs which were free when you buy the tortillas

2 friskies cans

2 yogurts

The receipt says I saved $35.86  and I spent for all that $37.15 but didn't catch the fact they did not take off $4 in coupons. The store is very good about fixing problems, so always make sure they scan all coupons.

Frankie's Corner

Just some more pictures of the Crazy Siamese who thinks he's a dog.

                          This is my lookout spot and I will come down when I'm good and ready.

I'm tanning leave me alone.

                                          Where's my leash its time to go outside?