Chemical Free Cleaning Supplies and Roast Chicken

Okay, I know that these two topics sound a little strange (especially together) but I have a reason for putting them together....trust me!

Yesterday at the store I bought a fresh chicken to roast. It was not that expensive at all (under $6.00) and the plan was that Scott would cook it so that we would have chicken for dinner and for sandwiches during the week. Well Scott got sidetracked doing errands and so yours truly was in charge of the bird! Now as I mentioned before, I was a vegetarian for 9 years. I gave up red meat in high school and all other meat in college. I did have to start eating fish due to health reasons but I only started eating chicken when I was pregnant with Z (still no red meat for me). Needless to say I have never prepared a whole chicken before. This was quite the experience!!! During the process I debated going back to my vegetarian lifestyle :( I felt the need to apologize to the bird as I gave him a bath in apple cider vinegar and patted him dry.

I used a Reynolds Oven bag to cook my 7 lb chicken which was so easy! I seasoned it with EVOO, salt, pepper, rosemary and some poultry seasoning. I am always very careful when working with raw meat. I make sure that only a few surfaces are used and I have everything on hand that I would need so that I am not opening cabinets with my contaminated hands. After I put the bird in the oven I washed my hands and went to town scrubbing our kitchen.

Here is where the Chemical Free Cleaning Supplies come into play.

For years now, S and I have been using all natural cleaning supplies in our home. We do have some bottles of soft scrub etc. for those occasions where the natural cleaner won't do the trick but for everyday cleaning we use the natural cleaners. We have found many brands that we like but recently I hit the jackpot! S's best friend, Uncle J, started a cleaning business called Green Clean Maine. If you are in Portland, Maine I highly suggest you look them up. They do a fantastic job and clean with homemade remedies created by Uncle J himself. He brought me some of these cleaners when he last visited and I am in love! They work so well and I know that they are completely safe to use around Z. He does not yet sell them to the public but as soon as he does I will tell you where you can get them. They are so great!!! Thanks Uncle J :)

Well 2 1/2 hours later we had the most delicious chicken! Even Z (who doesn't eat anything) was devouring it!! Scott then decided to take the carcass and make a soup (he is is mother's child). Before I knew it he had a huge pot of the most delicious chicken and rice soup simmering. We now have enough food for 3 or 4 days...all for $6.00 (maybe $7.00 if you add the rice, carrots and onion he used in the soup). We plan to do this every couple of weeks now.

Well it was a wonderful Sunday meal and I can't wait to eat chicken soup tonight. We finished our dinner off with a banana cream pie in honor of S's 1/2 birthday (a blog post for another day). I hope you all had a wonderful weekend :)

Valentines Day Countdown....

Well the Hallmark holiday is only a week away! Like many of you I have had my share of bad Valentines Days...there was the one where my high school boyfriend broke up with me the week before, the many where I was alone and the worst of them all was when my boyfriend in college stood me up and then showed up at my house at 11:30pm with a box of chocolate to make up for it (btw I am very allergic to chocolate!!!).

The last 9 Valentines Days with S have been wonderful and this year will be our 10th Valentines Day together :) We have done a lot of wonderful things in the past.....romantic dinners, fabulous gifts, limos coming to the house, flowers, romantic getaways etc. Last year we spent our first night away from Z and went into the city for an elegant dinner (with lots of wine). We then we spent the night in one of the nicest hotels, it was wonderful :)

Well this year things are a little different. With money being tight there will be no lavish dinners, limos, hotel stays or expensive gifts. We have decided to spend nothing on this years Valentines Day and get a little creative. This year we are going to make dinner together, enjoy an inexpensive bottle of wine, talk, eat slowly, enjoy each others company and then present each other with love letters ;) My friend C asked for one from her husband for Christmas and that inspired me. I thought it would be the perfect gift to one another. I cannot wait to read what S writes.

Last year we made gifts from Z and they were so sweet. S designed a website about why Z loved me (he is way too computer savy) and I made a book with pictures of why Daddy Loves Z. It was funny that the gifts were similar, yet so different. It was very sweet and we still have both and plan to treasure them forever!

Well everyone, I hope that you take some time and thought when you plan out this years Valentines Day. Please remember that if your gift or idea comes from your heart it is worth much more than anything bought in a store! So you have a week.......take this commercial holiday as a chance to show your loved ones how special they are to you :)

A Rainy Day, Tomato Soup and a Big Comfy Hand-Me-Down Sweatshirt

Rainy days are good for one thing....sleeping! At 7:30 this morning when Z woke up, I looked out the window and pulled the covers up over my head. It was one of those days when you want to curl up and go back to sleep. Well that isn't an option when you have a toddler so our day began 5 minutes later with the smell of coffee and rice milk :)

Normally on a rainy day, Z and I like to hibernate indoors. We play games, read books, have a dance party and just enjoy spending the day in our jammies! Today we had Kindermusik class so we needed to get dressed and go out into the elements. After a fun 45 minutes of singing and dancing my friend K said she was going to go home, put on her comfy clothes, eat comfort food and not leave the house for the rest of the day! That sounded perfect to me :)

So Z and I drove home and I went in search of comfy clothes for both of us. I pulled out one of S's big sweatshirts and shorts (I do have to workout in a minute so I couldn't get too comfy) and I found some sweats and a very large hand-me-down sweatshirt for Z. Z seemed relieved to be rid of his sweater and jeans and loved this very large 4 T sweatshirt :) I gave him a squeeze and went in to make the grilled cheese and tomato soup (weight watchers style) that I had been craving since K said "comfort food". We had a very nice and relaxing lunch together (Z had his usual chicken fingers).

I am very fortunate in that I not only have a wonderful mother who keeps my child very well dressed but I also have two very nice Hand-Me-Down Angels! I love getting the hand-me-down bags and going through all of the great stuff! My hand-me-down sources have great taste and take very good care of their things. We even got two tuxes in the last bag we got!!! Z has the most extensive wardrobe thanks to them and my mom :) I have not bought him anything in a very long time and I am so grateful for this.

So if you don't have someone who currently gives you hand-me-downs....I strongly suggest you find your own angel. Look for someone with a well dressed child a little older than yours (who doesn't plan on having anymore children) and befriend them :) Or ask around...you never know where you will find a Hand-Me-Down Angel. One of my angels is my mom's friend and the other is a friend's sister. Thanks you guys! You keep Z warm and well dressed all year long :)

A Great Free Outing

Today Z and I went to our public library. It is one of his favorite places to go and I love it because it does not cost a thing! Our library has a wonderful kids section with lots of fun things for him to do. They have puzzles, cars, puppets, trains etc. He also loves to look through all of the board books and sit down to read them. We go once every two weeks and I pick out a few books and a movie for him. They have a great kids DVD selection and this week we got a short movie all about balls! Zachary is obsessed with balls (like most other toddlers his age) and was carrying the DVD case all over the house saying, "ball".

The one downfall of our trips to the library is getting Z to leave. He cries when it is time to go and usually has to be bribed with milk or his toy football. The librarians think it is great that he loves the library so much.

Many libraries have lots of free programs for kids. Ours has a toddler story time which Z will be ready for in a few months. I highly recommend checking out your public library. It is one free and fun activity you can do with your kids for their entire childhood!

a little thing called craigslist....

Wow! I am now in love with craigslist!!!! In the past I had used this site once or twice when we had to look for apartments. People had often talked about posting things on craigslist but I had never felt the need to check out all that the list had to offer. That was until last Thursday....now I am an addict.

Last Thursday we started our toddler gym class at the local YMCA. Z is in love with balls and the gym at the Y. Whenever we would go to swim class he would be dragging us down the hall as he frantically signed "ball". He wanted to go to the gym much more than the pool :) Well his dreams came true last week because instead of taking a left into the pool...we walked down the hall to the gym (I walked, he "ran") and his eyes lit up with excitement. When we walked in, there was an employee shooting hoops. He had the rack of basketballs out and Z quickly ran to the rack and hoisted a big basketball into his arms. After the go ahead from the employee....Z was running around the gym with his very large ball :)

One of the b-ball hoops had been lowered and so I lifted him into the air so that he could shoot his first basket. What a joy and a mistake this was....he was elated and full of pride and wanted to do it again and again and again!!!! Just when I thought my back could take no more, it was time for us to go to our class. Z would not put the basketball down! The employee was very nice and let us keep it and we brought it with us to class. Z soon became the envy of all of the other toddlers. He had the biggest ball and soon had a row of children running after him to get this new treasure.

In this new gym the b-ball hoops were not lowered to Z's disappointment. He would stand under them trying to figure out how to shoot his giant ball into the hoop. Coming over to me and whining for me to help him, I lifted him in the air to show him that his 5 ft 8 in mommy could not help him reach the very high basketball hoop :) This was no good!!!

Thank goodness we soon found a Little Tikes basketball hoop and that was when Z became a toddler basketball star. He sunk basket after basket and was a real natural. His teacher came over and commented on his excellent basketball skills :) My friends in class told me that I had to get him a hoop of his own (they told me I had to!). So on the way home I decided that I would find a way to get Z his very own hoop and help to make him the next Larry Bird :)

After Z went down for his nap I "googled" the hoop and found out that it cost $30.00. Now the old me would have gone out after his nap and bought the hoop at whatever store I could have tracked it down at. But the new me was under a spending freeze....what to do? How could I find $30 without making my husband S mad? How could I justify this purchase????

That is when it hit me....craigslist!!! And so I typed "Little Tikes Basketball hoop" into the search bar and what would you know....two had been posted that day and for only $10! Now we were talking. I quickly emailed the first lady on the list and discussed the mint condition of her hoop. Before I knew it I had arranged a pick up of the hoop later that day! Okay....now what to do. I still was not allowed to spend $. Well I called my sister in desperation and she said that it was fate that two hoops had been posted that day and that $10 was nothing and that if I needed her to...she would buy the coveted hoop.

So I set out on my journey to pick up the hoop, making sure to call my mom, best friend L and my sister to let them know where I was going in case I was never to be seen again. My mom freaked out about me going to a strange person's house with her grandson and demanded that I call her as soon as I was done. Well the pick up was a breeze, the lady seemed very nice and the hoop looked great. Z lit up when he saw me bring it back to the car and when I handed him the ball he clapped with glee. I quickly called mom back and she was relieved to hear that we were all right and that Z was excited about his new toy. She even offered to buy it for him for his Valentines Day present :)

S came home later that night to see Z dunking hoop after hoop (I even had to raise it up one level to give him more of a challenge). He looked at me with a "how much did you spend today?" smirk but I quickly told him that this precious find cost us nothing! He then listened to the story, gave me a kiss, told me how proud he was of me (that I had been so resourceful) and sat down to play b-ball with his son!

Thanks craigslist (and mom), you have helped to bring one of the best toys into our house. The whole family plays with it daily and it is the first thing Z runs to every morning. You have found a new user in me and now I have my eye on a $10 easel for Z, I just have to figure out how to justify it to my hubby.........I will keep you posted!!!