Sunday: The week of Danni, Jojo, and babies

Good day everyone! I appologize for not posting a lot! It has been such a busy week. This weekend was Joseph's 6th birthday and I had to help finish planning it and inviting people this week. It was army themed and he had so so much fun.

I am doing ok. I have started my best friends birthday gift this week... it's in April but it'll take a long time.   This weekend, my father got out of hand... which was really stressful... and I really don't want to discuss it online...

Thaddeus is doing well.  He has said a new word... 'bobbi'. Well it sounds more like 'bubbi'. He is starting to get into the terrorizing, fit throwing, screaming behaviours of a two-year-old...ugh!

Joseph was a lucky boy this weekend. He has had cake every day he's neen with us! He has been having some trouble with arguing in class. But he has promised us he would do better.

Recipe Tuesday: Copycat "Hot Pockets" Four Cheese Pizza (250 Calories each)

To start today off I went grocery shopping after school.  I hit our local Walmart I'd rather shop at King Soopers but the prices are almost double on vegetarian items.  I pass all of the frozen "convenient" food and manage to grab a box of Hot Pocket '4 Cheese Pizza' (Yummy yummy) for $2.50 for a box of 2 Ouch! I got home and got Thaddeus to sleep and cook one up. I start eating the cheesy goodness and look at the box... 320 calories per serving... That's right 320... That is MORE than 1/5 of my calorie intake goal... More than 20%. After that, I decided to make a recipe for a 'copy cat'.  This was my first time making it and it turned out better than expected! Each pocket has about 250 calories which is better than the 320.  You can also take other steps to reduce this by getting low-fat crescent rolls, fat-free cheese, or replace/ reduce the butter.  This recipe is easy to make and takes about 20 minutes to 1/2 an hour to make.

Photo from: foodgawker.com

Ingredients:

•  8 Ounce Package of Crescent Rolls (Rectangular)
• 1/2 Cup Pizza Sauce
• 1 Cup Low-Fat Cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, provolone, etc)
• 2 Tbs Garlic (super minced)
• 2 Tbs Unsalted Butter (melted)
• Oregano
• Seasoning Salt

Method (A.K.A Maddness!):

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. Melt butter and mince garlic
3. Mix butter, garlic, oregano and season salt
4. Unroll crescent dough and separate into 8 rectangles.
5. Seal seams.
6. Divide sauce and cheese among the 8 pieces.
7. Fold over and pinch edges together.
8. Place seam side down on greased baking sheet.
9. Lightly coat top with butter mixture
10. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
11. If you choose lightly coat top again

Crochet Monday! How to Crochet a Simple Bow (~15 min)

Today we are crocheting a simple bow that can be used as an accessory! The stitch that is used is a half double crochet which I show in the video.  I apologize if lighting is bad... my brother is at the actual computer desk playing LOL or something like that.  If you have ANY questions or things I need to clarify please add a comment about it :)

I changed the thumbnail for the video but it won't update :'((

Pattern:

Key:
Ch=chain
Hdc= half-double crochet
R= row/round
St= stitch


R1: Ch 25                                                                                                           (25 chain)
R2: Hdc in the 3rd chain; hdc in the rest of the chains, ch 2; turn                           (23 HDC)
R3: Hdc in all of the st, ch 2; turn                                                                         (23 HDC)
R4: Hdc in the same st as chain, hdc in all of the st; tie off                                     (23 HDC)

Sew together both ends to make a circle
Hold circle flat and take the end of your yarn (on skien) and hold it on the back of your bow
Wrap yarn around the middle tightly to make the center of the bow
Cut the yarn (connected to skien) and tie both ends together
Weave under wrapped yarn

A Week in the Life of Danni, Jojo, Joseph, & Thaddeus

As  you may have realizes, I took yesterday off.  It was a long, hard, and emotionally stressful day...and I didn't have anything to complain about.  But today is Sunday and I allotted today to post about myself and my life and whatever I wanted to post.  Well, within this week quite a few things happened! 

I learned that Thaddeus is right handed.  Or well, I think he is :)  When I offer him things for him to grab, he tends to grab them with his right hand.  The kicker is, when I offer it to his left hand he still, goes out of his way, to take it with the right.  Thaddeus also learned how to say "Mommy" and "Daddy".  This made me so very happy!!  He also formed his first sentence... well he says "Who dat?" but now he will say "Where's baby?"  His Eeyore lovey is called baby. Since Thaddeus is my baby and Eeyore is his baby it made sense to me.  Thaddeus also learned how to blow his nose correctly (he used to take a tissue or a wet wipe and inhale).  On the other hand, Thaddeus is now throwing fits several times a day and becoming a little aggressive.  If Joseph has a toy that he wants, he will knock him down and take it.  I am working to break this habit but it'll be awhile until it is broken.


In my own world all I did was homework and house work... I finally finished my first crocheted clutch though! Click here to see it!  This photo is on Facebook and there are a few pictures if you look in my mobile uploads.  If you are interested in one go to my Etsy and send me a message about it! Here is a link to my Etsy, Treasure From Thaddeus,  and here is a link to my Facebook for my sales Treasures From Thaddeus.  I also try to sell ItWorks! wraps but it isn't going too well for me... I guess I am just not too passionate about it.  I am also going to start a NEW ahfgan for a birthday present in April.  I need to start soon!

Now for Joseph Jr.... he is going to be six next week!!! Ahhh we are so excited! We are throwing an army themed party for him and a few of his friends and we can't wait.  We ordered the cake, got decorations, now we just need to hand out invites to his friends at school.  He has gotten in trouble a few times this week, and I am unsure why. But we are bouncing back from that!  I don't have much of an update since he was at his mom's last weekend.  Since it is his birthday, I am going to start a project for him.

Lastly, we have jojo. Not much has really happened. He is staying with a friend in FOCO and is framing houses again.  I don't see him too often except for weekends because he is aloud to stay over here when we have Joseph. And I am not sure how much/what he wants me to share on here.

Finally Friday! Kudos For a Hero!

It is now 11:05 p.m. here and technically it is still Friday.  Today has been LONG LONG LONG!  Today I would love to discuss someone who didn't get the recognition they deserved, but today's man has received recognition but I think he deserves so much more.  This was the problem, at the end of January 2014,  Utah Elementary in Salt Lake City trashed 40 student lunches because their lunch account balance was negative.  The school states the parents were notified on Monday but the school was not able to contact all of the parents by lunch on Tuesday.  I believe this is a SICK story.  Who really believes the child should suffer because the school couldn't contact the parents or that the parents can't afford it.  When I was in elementary school, my parents struggled and struggled to keep money in my brother and my school lunch accounts even with reduced lunch fee.  Yes, there are programs for free and reduced lunch costs but it is based on parental income and is set at a certain limit.  Well, what if a single mom who has trouble affording to feed her kids dinner can't get reduced lunch because she makes a few dollars more than the limit?  At the schools I went to, full price lunch was $3.50 a day.  When I was growing up, there was NO WAY we could have afford that for three kids.  If you want to read the story through RYOT click here.

So... this leads to our Hero of the day.  This man is named Kenny Thompson and he is called the "lunch angel".  He heard about this disgusting act of throwing away 5-10 year-old students' lunches and did something about it!  He went to the Huston Elementary School and paid SIXTY, that's right 6-0 students negative balances.  He took $465 of his own money because many of the students were on the reduced program and the parents still couldn't afford it.  The sad part of the story is, many of the students with negative balances will skip the lunch line to avoid embarrassment and they go hungry another day.

This man PROVED that someone does care about them and the 5-10 year old students shouldn't have to worry about if they will eat lunch or not; but to get good grades.

I, Danielle, personally thank you Kenny Thompson.  Who knows? You might have saved these kids' lives in the end.



Here is a link to his story covered by Fox8.  I got my information from Fox8 and RYOT.

Thursday DIY: Valentine Special

Hello everyone! This post is for ALL of the people who decide, like myself, to wait last minute to get a gift.  Though this blog, you will learn I don't like paying for things... (full price).  Some people say I am "cheap" others will say I am "thrifty"... I agree with the latter of the two.  Today is DIY day! Hurray!!!

For those who do not know what DIY is or how to do it.  DIY means Do It Yourself and the projects can range from simple or super complex.  I tend to dabble in the simple projects.  I find MOST of my projects through Pinterest and you can follow me here. The DIY projects I do require little supplies and little effort.

Todays DIY will be.....drum roll please...
.

DIY: Valentine's in a Shell

These are easy to do but they do take a while unless you "blow" the yolk and white out.  I got impatient and tried to blow them out and I ended up busting more eggs than I wanted; thus, I had to run to get more eggs. I found this ideas here but I am using food coloring instead of paint.  Here are some other ways to decoratehere.  There are many AWESOME ideas but I don't have some of the items it wants. I really REALLY like the one with the old tie... If you do it, comment with the pictures on how they turned out!  This is a really cool idea too, click here!
eggs

What you need:

• Eggs (one for everyone you want to give them to or one per family)
• A Piece of paper
• Pen or Pencil
• A Needle (I used an embroidery needle)
• A nail (to make the hole bigger)
• A Butterknife
• Bowl (to catch the egg)
• Paint, Food Coloring, Easter Egg Dye, Etc... (To decorate! I am using food coloring in water)

What I did:

1. Wash your eggs! This is SOOO important to lessen the likelihood of salmonella.
2. Dry your eggs
3. Set your eggs on top of the shot glasses.
4. Hold your egg in place.  Then, position the needle on top and use the butterknife as a hammer. GENTLY hit the needle.  The harder you hit, the more likely the egg with crack or break.
5. Flip the egg and do the same to the other side so you have two holes; one on each side.
6. Make the holes about 2 mm big so the yolk is easier to get out. But be careful.... Because you are aloud to cry over spilled eggs.
7. Lightly blow the egg out.
8. Repeat this with all of your eggs.
9. Once the yolk is out, wash near the holes and get any yolk that happened to stick.
10. I prepared four food coloring 'baths' in small Tupperware dishes.  I put about a few inches of water in and added food coloring to whatever color consistency I wanted.
11. Keep in the bath until you have the color you want.
12. Take the eggs out and let them dry.
13. You can also draw on them with sharpie if you want.
14. Measure and cut a strip of paper that is 1/2 inch wide and a 2-3 inches long.
15. Write your secret note!
16. Tightly roll up the note and push it through one of the holes that you made in the beginning.

Picture from http://www.ohcrafts.net/gifts-message-inside-an-egg.php

Now! You can confuse many people on Valentines day by giving out eggs.  This shows how off and crazy you are... or at least I am.

Weight loss Journal With Unicorns and Stuff

Today is Wednesday! The middle of the week and the day between my classes.  Don't tell anyone but I should be writing my essay for English.  However I though I would say hello.

Today I would like to start a weight loss/health journal to hopefully motivate me to lose the baby weight that Thaddeus generously gifted to me. Before pregnancy in 2011, I weighed 180 pounds and I am still 5 feet and 6 inches tall.  Thus, my BMI (body mass index) was at a 29.0 which is 1 point from being obese. If you want to find your BMI, click here  Well, I have a larger frame than the average women but still, not good.  Now as of 2/12/2014, I weigh 200.8 pounds which would mean my BMI is now a 32.4 which is BAD.

Let me give you a 'run down' of my habits within the last year... To start off, I am a vegetarian with a love of cheese and chocolate.  I consume WAY more cheese than I should. I would eat it on a lot of my foods.  For instance, I am making fresh hashbrowns and I would love to drown them in cheese.  I also eat more pasta and breads than I should. And the biggest one is, I dislike most vegetables... Surprising huh?

According to my doc, a healthy weight for my height would be around 152-167 pounds so I will start with 167 being my goal!  As I look through the interwebs on healthy ways to lose weight... I have found so much information on how to lose weight fast which includes starving yourself and running till you puke... That is not my goal.  I do not mind it being a slow race because slow and steady wins the race.  If you try to lose weight quickly (like 2 lb a week), you are setting yourself up for DISASTER.  You'll become frustrated becuase you are not losing the weight because you are putting your body into starvation mode.  In starvation mode, your body holds onto any kind of food and it stores it.  Secondly, once you reach your goal... you'll stop exercising because you reached your goal; thus, causing you to gain back.

To lose weight you must burn more calories (exercise) than you consume (eat).  If I want to weigh 167 pounds by this time next year, and I keep a seditary lifestyle, I should consume less than 1,700 calories. To find out what calories you should intake to lose weight click here.

With this blog I commit to posting once a week of my calories consumed for each day, exercises and times, weekly weight,weekly inches, and a weightloss tip.  I started a sparkpeople account which allows me to log calories and fitness work outs.  You can find me here and sign up here if you want to follow me there and lose weight together!  There is a moble app but it is $4! I have not bought a moble app and I do not plan on it.  However, if I like the site and how it works I may consider it.

I took some pictures for you guys as a 'before'.  I took 2 sets, the first is in the bathroom (standing) and the other set is on a full body mirror but it wasn't put up since I had to move it.  I think the full mirror is better to see exactly whats going on without that split.

 Which set do you believe is a better representation?

Recipe Tuesday: Squash Cheese Soup (230 calorie)

Today is Tuesday and I would like to start this blog off with a good and healthy recipe (one of my new found favorites!).

Squash Cheese Soup

Originally found in The Vegetarian Lunchbasket by Linda Haynes

(but I altered it slightly because the directions are AWFUL and to suite my taste)

Picture from http://www.restaurants.com

I decided a few weeks ago that I desperately needed new recipes and I wanted to start getting healthier again.  I went to my public library and found a few recipe books.  I didn't really look through them but I grabbed an armful to go through at home and I found this gem of a recipe!  I LOVE this and Thaddeus loves it too! Surprise surprise...

This recipe has about 230 calories per serving if you split it into 5 servings.  When I make this I usually eat it with whole-wheat garlic toast and I use the toast to scoop the soup.  It's pretty thick in the end so if you want a runnier soup then add more water or bullion.  I also eat this with some fruit to balance it out. To me, apples go really nicely with this soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 Butternut Squash (large enough to yeild 2 cups of mash)
• 3 Tbs Unsalted Butter
• 3 Tbs While Wheat Flour
• 2 C Water
• 1 Cube of Not-Chik'n Bullion (you can find this at King Soopers right next to the soup stocks)
• 1 C Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• Seasoning Salt
• Pepper
• Fresh Garlic (grated)
• Red Curry Powder (TO TASTE! You only need a little)
• Basil
• Parsley

Method(And TONS Of Madness):

1. Gather all of the ingredients
2. Grate the squash and carefully cut though the middle.
3. Start boiling some water with a collander to steam the squash
4. Take the seeds and pulp and either keep the seeds to bake or garden; otherwise dispose.
5. Cut squash into 1 inch pieces and put into the collander above the boiling water for about 20 minutes or until mushy.
6. While squash is steaming, grate cheese and garlic; then prepare bullion broth.
7. Once squash is done and mooshy, blend the squash into a mash.
8. In a saucepan, melt the butter then slowly add the flour whisking as you pour.
9. Whisk the flour for about 2 minutes (don't let it burn!).
10. Slowly add broth while whisking, simmer for about 5 minutes or until it is a preferable thickness.
11. Stir in squash, seasonings, and cheese.
12. Simmer for 5 more minutes.

I hope to you really enjoy this! There are many recipes in this book that I like and you might too!  You can get this book from Amazon.com for a penny (plus shipping) used to $6 new.

I am going to try to post daily to get into a healthy habit and I would like to keep posting healthy recipes on TUESDAYS.  What is your favorite recipe???

Guess Who Made a Blog?

Hurray! Look who made a blog, all by herself!

My name is Danielle or Danni and I am a 20 year old mom.  I was born in Colorado on July 17, 1993 and I have never left this wonderful state.  I am currently in college to study ASL interpretation and I am about half way through my study.  I enjoy all things crafty, crocheting, reading, cooking, doing DIY projects, drawing, and spending time with my kids.  

I am currently engaged to a wonderful man named Joe who has a son, from a previous marriage, named Joseph Jr.  Joe and I also have a son together named Thaddeus; who was born a day after my birthday (July 18, 2012).  Joseph is 25 (26 in August) and he thinks he is getting so 'old'.  Joseph Jr is 5 and he is turning six on February 22!  Thaddeus is currently 18 months; he will be 19 months in eight days.

In my life, I had to move back in with my father and brother, who are not too thrilled about it.  It doesn't help the fact that Thaddeus is starting to go through his 'terrible twos'; so it gets pretty chaotic.  Thaddeus and I are vegetarians.  I have been a vegetarian for about 8 years or so and Thaddeus has been since he was born.  I don't really have a specific religion so I don't worry about that.

I can't wait for this blog to evolve and have other people enjoy my writing and tips and odd nature!