thoughts on Monday

July is the time to buy whatever school supplies you might need for the coming year. Sale prices are low right now.

This is my 3rd year to get the 70 page spiral notebooks for 10 cents each at Big Lots. I make all kinds of lists in a spiral, everything for my daily to-do lists, grocery lists, bill paying schedules, gift ideas.

I also like to stock up on glue sticks for craft projects when they are on sale for back to school but have not done that yet.

any school supplies you like to stock up on for your home?

these 2 pictures are not good but they are the best I can take right now. My digital camera gets lots of use and is acting up, whenever I rotate a picture, it disappears - so I can only take horizontal pictures and not vertical ones.

These are my aprons. I just finished sewing 4 of them. It takes me longer to finish things than it used to but after about 3 weeks of sporadic sewing, I finally finished them.

I have them hanging on a coat rack in the laundry room. I guess I have 7 aprons now, one for each day of the week!

oh, and I am getting a new camera this week. Just have to decide which one and where to buy it.

Want to know more about fiber?

Just in case you are worried about me after eating so much fried food on Saturday, I am showing you what I had today for breakfast.

I had Fiber One Honey Squares with skim milk and cantaloupe.

Fiber One Honey Squares are the newest flavor from Fiber One

I got my box free from Pssst. they are not paying me for my opinion but they did send me a box to try and some coupons.

I really like fiber One Honey Squares, the squares are light and just a touch sweet.

here is some fiber info provided by General Mills. You can up your fiber intake with FiberOne or with lots of foods.

10 Tips to Get your Daily Fiber
Most Americans are not getting the recommended 25 grams of fiber each day. With Fiber One cereal, it's easier than ever to increase your daily fiber intake. Try using these 10 simple tips to help reach your fiber goals.
1) Scan for Bran Look for “bran,” “whole grain” and “whole wheat” on product packages and ingredient labels. These ingredients can help boost fiber intake. ¾ cup Fiber One® 80 Calories = 10g fiber
2) Grab the Whole Food Munch on a whole piece of fruit in place of drinking a glass of juice. You’ll get the nutrients and the fiber too. 1 medium apple = 3g fiber
3) Savor the Skins Eat fruit and vegetables with the skin on. Eating the skin helps to bump up the fiber, plus it provides texture and a bonus of other nutrients. 1 medium baked potato with skin on = 4g fiber
4) Screen for Beans Replace your typical side dishes with high-fiber dried peas and beans, such as kidney, pinto, lentils or black-eyed peas. These fiber-packed legumes make it easier to meet daily fiber goals. ½ cup canned red kidney beans = 8g fiber
5) Go Nuts Jazz up salads, vegetables, snacks and desserts with almonds, sunflower seeds or soy nuts. Nuts and seeds add fiber and fun-to-chew crunch to foods. 1 ounce roasted almonds = 3g fiber
6) Be Berry Wild Choose raspberries, blackberries and boysenberries to add variety to your cereals. These berries have twice the fiber of many other fruit selections. ½ cup fresh raspberries = 4g fiber
7) Bring on the Brown Use brown rice instead of white. Switch to whole wheat pasta, whole wheat flour, whole wheat breads and whole grain crackers instead of regular white versions. 1 cup brown rice = 3g fiber
8) Skip the Chips Select snacks that are a good source of fiber. Instead of potato chips, go for low-fat popcorn, whole-grain pretzels or oven-crisped whole-wheat pita triangles. 3 cups popcorn = 4g fiber
9) Drink Up Water is a healthy beverage choice—especially as you up the fiber. Your body needs more water to help process the added fiber you eat. Aim for eight 8-oz glasses of water each day.
10) Sneak in Some Fiber One cereal Incorporate Fiber One cereal into your favorite side dishes or use to top yogurt, salads or oatmeal.¼ cup Fiber One Original cereal for sprinkling = 7g fiber

I have six $1 coupons for Fiber One 80 calorie cereal. exp. 12/9/11 It would be my pleasure to share them, so if you want some , let me know how many you would like. I will send them to the first commenters until they all requested.

updated - the coupons have been spoken for. Hope you will come back for the 2 other giveaways I have scheduled soon.

Fry Party

About 4 months ago, we thought we needed a deep fryer so we bought a small one at Walmart. It works great though we don't use it much.
Our children all thought a deep fryer was a great idea and it became quite a conversation piece while it sat on the kitchen counter.
So, they decided we should have a fry party and make home versions of some of the crazy popular fried foods served at fairs.
We finally had that fry party this weekend to celebrate Jeff's July birthday and John's brand new Masters degree.

Sorry no pictures, fried food just looks brown and I was pretty busy with the 9 adults and 2 toddlers here.

The new recipes we tried are very worth recommending.

First we started out with

fried mushrooms
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/deep-fried-mushrooms/detail.aspx

fried green beans
http://www.mommyskitchen.net/2011/07/crispy-fried-green-beans-wzesty-dipping.html

and corn dogs made with little smokies sausages
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/corn-dogs/detail.aspx

all 3 of these recipes were delicous and were gobbled up fast. I did not make any special dipping sauces, though they would of been good, we like mustard, ketchup and barbecue sauce just fine.

Then my mother in law cooked chicken tenders.

Next, were my favorite of the day
Onion Strings - the recipe calls for red onions but I used sweet yellow onions and they could not of been better.
http://www.macheesmo.com/2011/07/red-onion-strings/

Then we tried some fried cheese
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fried-mozzarella-cheese-sticks/detail.aspx
We used string cheese and Cowboy cheese. Both were very good.
This breading recipe makes enough for many sticks of cheese though, we fried about 15 sticks and had more than half of the coating left.

Not that we needed any, but we had fried dessert next.
First John fried Oreos dipped in leftover waffle batter. I was not expecting to like them, I mean how can you improve Oreos? Much to my surprise, deep fried Oreos are great.
He also fried some frozen mini Snickers - they fell apart - and frozen mini Milky Ways. I hear they were yummy but I did not try them.

The frying took almost 2 hours from start to finish and several of us took turns breading and watching the fryer. It was a fun and informal way to have an unusual meal.

We had also talked about having fried pickles, jalapeno poppers, french fries, doughnuts, corn fritters and chimichangas but we would of been cooking and eating till nightfall if we had cooked them too.
I expect we will do a fry party again, maybe in a year. It was delicious and fun, but not a meal any of us want or need to eat too often.

If you just want to try one of these recipes - and they are all good - the onion strings were the hands down favorite.

Jane Snead Samplers are available again!

This sampler is still timeless, especially with today's financial uncertainties!

All of these pretty samplers were made by mom. She has always done lots of handwork from crocheting to sewing to quilting. These embroidered samplers are some of my favorite things that she has made.

I blogged about them on my old blog http://ahomewithasmile.blogspot.com/2009/10/jane-snead-samplers.html

Since then, I have received several comments from other Jane Snead fans and stitchers that are looking for Jane Snead.

Well, this week, I got an email that made me smile!

here is the email I got from Joan

Hello -
I enjoyed the photos of the completed Jane Snead Samplers on your blog site, At Home With a Smile, which I came upon while searching the internet for some of these samplers.
I am happy to share the news that Jane Snead Samplers are back. The woman who now owns the company is a member of the original family and she has an inventory of the kits that she is now selling on eBay. Just go to eBay and enter "Jane Snead" in the search box and the items will come up. If you do not see a particular design you are looking for, you can contact the seller and she will let you know if it is available in which case she will list it on eBay. The seller is very nice to deal with. Her eBay i.d. is: planb2239
I have bought a number of the kits myself and am delighted with them.
Good luck shopping to you and the others who posted interest in the samplers on your blog(s).

So I went right over to Ebay and looked up seller planB2239

http://myworld.ebay.com/planb2239/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

Just click on the Items for Sale button to see her listings.

She is selling lots of Jane Snead samplers. They are buy it now which is my favorite way to purchase things on Ebay. She has free shipping and very reasonable prices.

So if you are would like to browse some retro samplers or want to do some stamped embroidery, you might want to take a look at Jane Snead.

I am trying to decide which one I want to order first.

Crock pot tip and more bragging about my grandbabies

I've been cooking with the crockpot this summer, it heats up the kitchen a lot less than baking things in the oven.
One of our favorite things is to cook pork loin on high until it is tender enough to shred.
At the very end, I add barbecue sauce (we like Head Country because it tastes good and is made in Oklahoma
http://www.headcountry.com/)

anyway, can you see how the inside of the crockpot, even after I cooked that roast and took out the leftovers, looks pretty clean?
My trick for easy clean up is to spray the inside with cooking spray, like Pam, before you cook.
I've been doing this for a few months and no matter what I cook, clean up is a breeze. Washing the inside is as easy as washing a dinner plate.

Little Elizabeth and her momma came for a visit today to see how Grandpa Jeff is recuperating.

They read a few books and had some fun visiting. Elizabeth is 13 months old and she loves to sit and read books. She like it when a grown-up does the reading and she also likes to sit alone and look at books by herself.

Gavin and his momma came yesterday for a short visit. Gavin had been to the doctor and was not feeling his best so I did not take any pictures. Gavin was so concerned about his Grandpa and gave Grandpa the sticker that he had just got from his doctor. Isn't that sweet?

Gavin had a dry cough and was not feeling just right, the doctor did not seem to know exactly what was wrong with him. His momma thinks he might just be too tired and that the cough could be from swimming and getting a little water in his lungs.