Healthy Home Blog

Mattresses

Charla — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:08:25 +0000

There’s something about getting a good night’s sleep that is rejuvenating. Having a comfortable mattress makes a lot of difference, and we can sure tell the difference sleeping on our mattress with an added pillow topper. Someone might check out a natural latex mattress los angeles or a mattress wherever they live and decide that it’s one of the best they’ve ever slept on. I know we wouldn’t trade ours for any other mattress, and when we sleep away from home then we can tell a difference!

Menu Plan Monday 5/14/12

Charla — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:42:14 +0000

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend. Our son came home to spend the weekend with us. I told him that was the best gift, him coming home. We got to talk to our daughter and my mother-in-law on the phone which was great since we couldn’t be together in person. I received thoughtful presents, beautiful cards, and my husband took us out to eat after church today. It was a wonderful weekend!

My thoughts went back to my own mother who passed away 12 years ago. I remember how she helped me with all the many reports I had to do in fourth grade. Writing was not my favorite thing to do, but she would edit my papers and have me do them over again until I had them correct. She taught me things about verb tenses and correct grammar usage, things I use nearly every day in blogging. I think she would be happy to know that I use those writing skills today.
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I also remember how my mother was always a room mother for my class at school, made the most delicious cut-out sugar cookies with icing for school parties, made the best pie crust I have ever tasted, always had ice cold Kool-aid for me and my friends on hot summer days playing outside (the brother of one of my friends called her “Mrs. Kool-aid”), and how she would read Luke 2:1-20 often at bedtime, and that was my favorite to have read to me before going to sleep. I feel blessed to have had her for a mother.
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Here’s our menu for the week. I still haven’t decided on Tuesday’s main dish but will have to soon since I’m running out of time. Dessert was easy!
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Monday: Morey’s “Fish Creations” Wild Salmon, marinated & ready in minutes (from Wal-Mart’s meat section), corn and green beans

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Tuesday: Dessert – Strawberry & Blackberry Shortcake (Haven’t figured out the main course yet. Our son and three of his friends are coming for dinner)
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Wednesday: Chicken, yellow squash, Kale & Romaine Salad, carrots

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Thursday: Salad with raw veggies & “turkey bacon”
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Friday: Eating out

Happy Mother’s Day: Mom Song

Charla — Sun, 13 May 2012 04:47:18 +0000

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms! Here’s a fun song to hopefully bring a smile to your face. With that said, I thank God for blessing me with being a mom and having two precious children!
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Easy Mother’s Day Cake: Pretty & Delicious

Charla — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:32:47 +0000

This week is Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week at my school. We had a beautiful luncheon, which included a cake that several said was too pretty to cut. Here’s the recipe for this impressive cake that was also delicious:

INGREDIENTS:

Artisan Fresh Lemon Crunch Bundt Cake, 50 oz. (from Sam’s) or any large, moist lemon bundt cake
2 pints fresh strawberries, cleaned

Place the cake on a large, pretty plate. Fill the center of the bundt cake completely with fresh whole strawberries so that the strawberries are overlapping onto the top of the cake a little bit. Place remaining strawberries on the plate, completely surrounding the bottom of the cake. Enjoy!

Wall Mounted TVs

Charla — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:12:49 +0000

We were walking through the Electronics Department at a local store recently and were looking at all the flat screen TVs. Some people probably get peerless mounts to mount their flat screens on the wall. That sure would free up floor space to have the TV on a wall. Ours is in an entertainment center which takes up a considerable amount of space on the wall at the end of our living room. It’s hard to imagine that room without the entertainment center, though, so we’ll probably keep it for a while.

Menu Plan Monday 5/7/12

Charla — Mon, 07 May 2012 02:38:48 +0000

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We’ve had a whirlwind of things going on since Spring Break. This past week was nice but busy getting ready for our school carnival. Things should start to wind down now, though. However, it’s getting harder to think up a menu, but I’ll try. Here we go:
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Monday: Chicken, steamed broccoli, corn
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Tuesday: Salmon, kale salad, carrots
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Wednesday: Leftover salmon, carrots, and salad
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Thursday: DiGiorno Crispy Flatbread Tuscan Style Chicken Pizza & salad (we still haven’t had this pizza)
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Friday: not decided yet (depends if our son is home)

Tax Accountant

Charla — Sat, 05 May 2012 20:41:34 +0000

I’m so glad taxes are done and over with…at least until next year. We didn’t need a raleigh accountant because my husband did our taxes on the computer, but I’m sure many people were using accountants to get their taxes done on time.

There’s so much work involved in keeping tax records all year long and then filling out all the forms. Being a teacher makes taxes easy because I receive a W-2 form from my school district. But then we have several schedule C’s to fill out, two of which are mine for blogging and private tutoring. Keeping up-to-date records throughout the year really helps because then there’s none of that last minute scrambling to get info together. I like that!

Kale & Romaine Salad Recipe

Charla — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:40:59 +0000

Central Market has a kale salad recipe that sounds great. However, I had only one of the ingredients…kale. But I did have ingredients that make good substitutions, so below is what I came up with plus some added ingredients such as sesame sticks and chicken. (The pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, almonds and cranberries were in the Central Market recipe plus crystallized ginger, chopped.) My husband and I liked the substitute recipe so much that we’ve had it for supper two nights in a row. This makes enough for two servings.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large kale leaves, torn into bite size pieces
2 cups Romaine lettuce
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced – we used organic celery from Walmart (or sliced almonds)
1/8-1/4 cup dried cherries (or dried cranberries)
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds (or roasted pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds))
3 tablespoons sesame sticks (we use oat bran sesame sticks)
chicken cut into bite size pieces (leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken, or 1 large can chicken breast chopped and cooked in olive oil)

DRESSING:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar – we use Bragg brand
Juice from 1 small clementine (or 2 tablespoons orange juice)
1/8 teaspoon ginger
Stevia – just a tiny bit to sweeten to taste

Menu Plan Monday 4/30/12

Charla — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:35:22 +0000

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. We had a laid-back weekend, one where I could decompress now that all of our state testing is over (for this school year anyway).

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It’s hard to think of a menu for the week. I think we’re going to go for lean and healthy meals except maybe have pizza on Friday. We didn’t have our pizza last Friday, so it’s still in the freezer waiting to be cooked.
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Monday: Leftover salmon, corn, broccoli
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Tuesday: Turkey patties, Kale & Romaine Salad, carrots
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Wednesday: Stir-fry with chicken, yellow squash, red pepper and onions

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Thursday: Salad with raw veggies & “turkey bacon”
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Friday: DiGiorno Crispy Flatbread Tuscan Style Chicken Pizza & salad