Sharing is Caring, Especially When It Comes to Cleaning

Mother’s Day Breakfast in Bed

May 12 by

This year, start off your Mother’s Day with breakfast in bed. Breakfast in bed is a wonderfully relaxing way to begin your morning, but if you’re going to be making this meal with your kids stick to simple recipes that can’t go wrong. The one thing you don’t want to give to the mother of the house is food poisoning!

Great Mother’s Day breakfasts in bed can be as simple as eggs, toast and bacon, french toast, oatmeal or yogurt and granola. The food itself isn’t all that matters. Try putting some flowers and other decorations on the tray along with the breakfast.

To make this breakfast in bed extra special, try waiting until the mother of the house wakes up on her own before bringing her food. Breakfast in bed is very exciting, but so is sleeping in late!

Happy Mother’s Day.

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Low Calorie Margaritas

May 2 by

With Cinco de Mayo coming up this weekend, we’re all looking for a great way to celebrate without piling on the pounds. Most restaurant margaritas have up to 500 calories – per drink! This simple, blended low calorie recipe is less than 200 calories, so you can enjoy two drinks for less calories than one restaurant margarita.

Start by running a lime around the edge of each glass. Fill a saucer with kosher salt, and then dip the wet glasses onto the saucer so that the rim of each glass has salt stuck to it.

Next, place the following ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
½ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup tequila
1 ½ tablespoons Cointreau
3 tablespoons sugar (or agave nectar to cut down on calories even more)
12 ice cubes

Poor the mixture into glasses, and enjoy!

This year, celebrate in style with this great low calorie margarita recipe.

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Amanda & the Blue Christmas Dream

January 11 by

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Winter Break Whimsy

At Amanda’s house, winter break normally means a trip up north to visit Grammy and Pop. But, this year, the beloved grandparents came down south to spend the holidays with Amanda and family.

Wanting to make this holiday even more special, the kids, crouched together in Marty’s infamous work space, designed a colorful spectacle for the whole family.

Inspired by a favorite carol, “Dreaming of a White Christmas” along with a couple of twists of their own, Marty constructed a slotted-bottom bucket to hang from the living room ceiling fan. Rubie concocted a mix of bright blue food coloring, water and extra-shaken soap.

On Christmas morning, Marty hit play on the CD player and turned the ceiling fan on high. Rubie then climbed the ladder and began slowly pouring her solution into the bucket.

Unexpected Messy, Turn of Events

As the bright blue bubbles and foam floated through the living room, their parents, Grammy and Pop, clad in pajamas, danced and laughed in the blue snow bubble shower.

Just then, Rubie lost her grip of the slippery, blue soap and dropped her bucket of foamy bubble solution right into the white carpet and absorbed quickly.

Wet with soap suds, their family paused, shook their heads then laughed. Grammy looked at her nervous grandchildren and said, “Thank goodness for Flat Rate Carpet.”

Two days after Christmas, the grandparents left just as the technician arrived. While the technician removed the stain, Amanda took a break from her book and thought, “Oh, how I love those colorful imaginations.”

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Cleaning up Christmas, Pine Needle Pick Up

January 4 by

Still enjoying the beauty of a live Christmas tree? Although there are so many benefits to having a live tree, clean up can be a nightmare. Using a regular vacuum to pick up pine needles doesn’t always work, and can cause some serious damage to your vacuum cleaner.

Instead of clogging up your vacuum cleaner this year, just follow these simple tips and taking down that tree will be easier than ever.

Sweep up the majority of the mess with a broom and dust pan. The remaining needles can usually be removed with a large lint roller. You can also wrap duct tape around your hand with the sticky part facing out. It might take some time, and a lot of duct tape, but it’s easier than picking up each needle one by one.

Baking soda is the perfect solution to getting up any remaining needles that are stuck to your carpet with sap. Sprinkle on the baking soda, and wait 10 minutes before picking up the sticky needles.

Although the clean up of a live tree is quite a hassle, the pleasure it brings during the Christmas season is worth all the effort. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

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Lots of Latkes

December 21 by

Whether you’re going to a Hannukah party, or eating at home with the family, it’s time to start eating the delicious potato pancakes known as latkes.

This yummy holiday treat is easy to make and delicious for everyone!

Start off by grating about 2 or 3 potatoes and one onion. It’s important to let as much moisture out of the mix as possible. Most recipes say to let the mix drain for half an hour, but I recommend a few hours at least.

Next add 3 eggs, beaten, two tablespoons matzo meal or flour, and salt and pepper to taste. Heat about ½ cup of oil in a deep frying pan. Drop in large spoonfuls of the mixture, flattening them into pancakes. Cook the latkes about three minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

Place the latkes on paper towels to help remove excess oil. Latkes are traditionally served with apple sauce or sour cream.

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