Have you heard about the latest Burger King Advertisement

This is the latest Burger King ad.  Fox has an article about it here.

The ad shows a blond woman with red lipstick opening her mouth for a long sandwich. Below the photo are these words: “It’ll blow your mind away. Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled with the new BK Super Seven Incher.”

So does this ad make any of you want to buy this sandwich????  It is running in Singapore.  Maybe they put it right after the Herbal Essence shower scene or e.d. commercial.  I think it is funny that Fox has this article when I can’t watch Fox News with my kids around.  Every other commercial is older people on their way to…….  Maybe they ate at Burger King and showered with Herbal Essence?

random stuff

Yesterday we went to the grocery store.  My oldest girl (age 10.5) wore denim knee shorts, a hooded short sleeve shirt and completed the look with cowboy boots.  I see lots of 4 year old boys with this look, but not many tween girls are sporting this… especially in June.  I love that she feels the freedom to be herself.   I hope there’s a mama out there raising a good farmer boy for this girl.  She is a hard working natural beauty and would love country living.

Quote from Shea yesterday while her sister Maggie messes with her as they eat breakfast.  While giving mean eyes says:  “I have butter on my fingers and I’m not afraid to use it!”    No need to arm this house…. we have butter.  All you criminals are shaking I know.

Maggie won 2nd place at the SETHSA art competition earlier this month.  I will take a pic of her art and post for you to see.  Thanks so much to my friend Julie for coaching her!

I went to ladies Bible study this morning and was in a good mood after putting my focus on God.  Then I watched Glenn Beck this afternoon and got a headache.  I become more untrusting of Washington every day… both Republicans and Democrats.

twitter question

I just signed up for twitter.   For my twitter savvy friends….I have a question.  Are there spammers on twitter?  If so, how do you determine if someone should be blocked?

twitter

I finally signed up for twitter.  I’m Houstonmum.  Houstonmom was already taken:(  I was about 2 years behind on the blogging thing.  Not sure why people twitter, but I figure if it  helped the Iranians during the election protest….. I should sign up and see what it is about.

Happy twittering.

Top 5 reasons not to send your kids to gov’t school

To my friends who are considering homeschooling or are starting their first year, this is a good article for you to read.  Voddie Baucham is one of my favorite preachers in the country.  This topic is very controversial, so I know I’ll get disagreeing comments.  That’s OK.  I haven’t stayed away from controversial subjects on this blog before, so here it goes…

http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/Blog/Entries/2009/6/25_Top_Five_REasons_Not_to_Send_Your_Kids_Back_to_Govt._School.html

Cold desserts are a great summer treat – lemon ice box pie

Today I’m joining lifeasmom for frugal friday.  Summer is great for sweets, especially cold treats.  We used to visit the local ice cream shop that charges $3+ per scoop.  After I left the work force, we changed to the Dairy Queen.  Now we take the kids to the grocery store when there is an ice cream sale and let them each pick out their own tub, which costs the same as a trip to dairy queen but gives more ice cream.  We also make this an ice cream only visit to the grocery store so the experience is a little more special than regular grocery shopping.

Another cold treat I made this week was lemon ice box pie.  While we were on vacation, we ate out a couple of times.   My husband ordered key lime pie, which was about $6 per slice.  I can make a whole pie for less than that.  I had lemon on hand so we had lemon instead of lime.  Both pies are similar.    It is so simple and perfect on a hot day with a cold glass of tea.   I had the can of milk and other items in my pantry or fridge from sales/coupons, so this cost maybe less than $3 to make.

Lemon Ice Box pie

First start with the crust.  It is much cheaper to make the crust than to buy the ready made.  In addition you get a pretty pie.  You can get a box of graham crackers (store band is fine) for a little over a dollar.  Each box comes with three sleeves.  Crush one sleeve and had 1/2 stick of melted butter or margarine and 1/4 cup of sugar.   Press this into your pie plate and bake at 350 for 6 minutes.

For the pie, I used a meringue topping.

Start with three eggs.  Seperate the yolks from the whites.  Set whites aside.  Beat yolks until creamy.  Add one can of sweetened condensed milk and juice from 3 lemons.  Beat these together until blended.  Only three ingredients for pie filling!!!  Pour into crust.

Rinse out your bowl and add egg whites.  Beat until stiff.  Then add one teaspoon of cream of tartar.  (this is from the spice section, not dairy section.  first time I shopped for it as a young bride I looked all over the dairy section for this stuff:) )  Then add in a tablespoon of sugar and beat.  Keep adding sugar until it is as sweet as you like.  I used about 4 tablespoons.

Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, or until top starts browning.  Let cool and place in fridge.  Serve chilled.  Yum Yum.

Dinner conversation last night

Here’s the conversation as we ate dinner last night.  Background…. we’re talking about the family (I posted a link to their video a couple of days ago) who lives off grid.

• Kids:  will we ever do what their family did and move off grid into the wilderness?
• Mom:  No, what happens if you break a leg?
• Shea:  If your leg breaks off you can’t walk.
• Mom:  Yes, if your leg breaks off you can’t walk.
• Shea:  What happens if your head breaks off?
• Mom:  you die.
• Bethany:  a roach can live 11 days if you chop its head off. (no emails from PITA please b/c we don’t do this at home, she read about it….)
• Mom to dad:  Is that true?
• Dad:  rolls eyes
• Mom to Bethany:  how do you know that?  are you making that up?
• Bethany:  Yes, it is true.  They can live without a head up to 11 days (I may be off on the days but this is what I remember)
• Mom to Bethany:  how do they do that?
• Dad:  finally has had enough.  “would you guys quit it….  I’m eating.

Next topic:

• Bethany to Mom:  why are prices so much higher than they were years ago.
• Mom:  inflation
• Bethany to Mom:  what is inflation
• Mom:  rising prices
• Bethany:  why do prices rise?
• Mom:  I believe it gets back to Keynesian economics and removing our currency from the gold standard.
• Bethany:  what is the gold standard?
• Mom:  it is when you have gold backing your currency.

it went on and on.

We went from headless roaches to Keynesian economics.  You just never know.

Baking Day – grinding wheat

Today was a bread day.  Normally I make 5 loaves (recipe here) which will last my family a week, however it is so hot that whenever I heat my oven I’m trying to get the most bang for my buck.  So I increased my bread production to 9 loaves.   I also made whole wheat orange cranberry muffins.

For the orange muffins (recipe here) I substituted ground pumpkin seeds for flax seed.  I also added dried cranberries.  They turned out great.

I grind my wheat berries and make this stuff from scratch.  It is not really saving money because bread is pretty inexpensive in the store.  That is if you buy store brand or other mass produced brands.  Of course if you get a loaf from Whole Foods bakery you’ll need to give them your first born.  Since I was not getting gourmet bread at Whole Foods, my bread bill has not gone down.  However, the nutrition content is gone way up.  When you grind your own wheat you get all the goodness from the grain.  Much of the ground whole wheat flour in the supermarket has the good parts removed.  Here’s a little info about the wheat grain – see here for full article:

The three main parts are:

Bran
The outer coating or “shell” of the wheat kernel is made up of several layers. These layers protect the main part of the kernel. Bran is rich in B vitamins and minerals.

Endosperm
This is the main part of the wheat kernel and represents about 80% of the kernel weight. It is from this part that white flour is milled. The endosperm is rich in energy-yielding carbohydrate and important protein.

Germ or Embryo
This part grows into a new plant if sown. The germ lies at one end of the grain and represents only 2% of the kernel. It is a rich source of B vitamins, oil, vitamin E and natural plant fat. It needs to be removed during milling because the fat is liable to become rancid during flour storage. Wheat germ is still very valuable though and is used in many products.

Making bread from the grain can be messy.  See what my kitchen looked like….

But then you have this…  I loaf already eaten and one given away.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child coming to our backyard

Today I received a letter from parentrights.org. I cut/ pasted below.  You can see the website for the original letter.  The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child would be terrible for families.  If you want to understand why, this site has an overview that will give you additional details.  If you want this stopped, please call your senators and the White House to voice your opinion.

Dear Friend of Parental Rights,

Monday in a Harlem middle school, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told a group of 120 students that administration officials are actively discussing “when and how it might be possible to join”  (that is, ratify) the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).  As before, she also communicated what a disgrace it is that the U.S. would stand with only Somalia against such a widely-accepted treaty.

This is the first direct public statement by the Obama administration that it will seek ratification of the UN CRC.

In my 30 years of political involvement, I have learned to recognize this as what is called a “trial balloon.” Like in World War I trench warfare, our opponents have “sent up a balloon” to see if it will draw fire. If things remain quiet, they will proceed with their plans to push for ratification of the CRC in the U.S. Senate.

To discourage them from doing so, we need to make sure that our voices are heard with unmistakable clarity.  We must let the Obama administration know that we oppose this anti-family, anti-American treaty.

Here’s what we need you all to do:

1.      Call the White House comments line at 202-456-1111. Tell them you heard the administration wants to ratify the CRC, and you strongly oppose this giving away of U.S. sovereignty to the UN. Also keep in mind that this treaty gives the government jurisdiction to override any decision made by any parent if the government thinks that a better decision can be made—even if there is no proof of any harm.

2.      Call Ambassador Susan Rice’s office at the United Nations. Tell her that you want her to represent the United States to the world rather than trying to get the United States to go along with international law initiated by the UN.  Her office number is 212-415-4000.

3.      Contact your Senators and urge them to oppose ratification of this treaty. (Find your Senators’ contact information by typing your zip code into the box here.) Ask them also to defeat it once and for all by cosponsoring SJRes 16 – the Parental Rights Amendment.

It is very important that we speak up right now.  Please call before you close this email!

Sincerely,

Michael Farris

Les Stroud – living off the grid

I just watched the “coolest” video.  Les Stroud’s (survivorman) family in Canada moved from their city home onto 150 acres.  And they set up a cabin off grid. I’ve seen stories of others doing this, but I enjoyed this one the most because this family has young kids about the same age as my older two.  They didn’t give up all modern conveniences, but definitely had to sacrifice.  I love these stories.

It is 7 parts on you tube:  first one here.