Homemaking tip | Cook dinner early

I have been a homemaker for over 19 years now and I LOVE my job! I have met a lot of new wives and even new homemakers over the years and they ask me for advice on how I keep everything together. Aside from having my planning book, I do a lot of things at unusual times. I cook dinner (yes dinner) before 11:00 AM during the week. I know you are wondering why I do that. I find that when my husband is at work and the kids are at school, I get so much more done. By the time school lets out and my husband gets home, I am not trying to rush and exhaust myself by having to figure what to make for dinner at 5:00 or 6:00 in the evening.

By cooking my meal in the morning, I save myself the drama and can enjoy my family at dinnertime, stress-free. What I do is cook my meal and pack everything up in containers. I let it cool down for about 20 minutes and I place it all in the refrigerator until later. This also allows all of those good flavors to set in and the food tastes even better than it would if it came straight off the stove. I also don't have to worry about washing dishes, pots and pans at night. It really helps out a lot and I pack any leftovers up for my husband to take for lunch the next day.

Homemaking really comes down to time management. I like to get most of my "work" out of the way before my crew gets home. It gives me more time to focus on things they may need me to help with or just to have a more relaxed evening. A more relaxed mother and wife makes for a happier household!

If you have any homemaking tips you would like to share, I would love to hear them!

How chicken got me a husband (True story)

I can remember in late Summer of '91, Dwayne and I went to Miami Beach to take a dip in the ocean and have a little cook-out . We took along food, drinks and a small charcoal grill. I had pre-seasoned some chicken wings to cook on the grill. Dwayne and I were very young, so he really had not really tasted a lot of my dishes. This was the first time he would get to try my barbecued chicken wings. He took his first bite and closed his eyes. He yelled out how good it was and he was amazed at my cooking skills. He then goes on to tell me how me could totally marry me because I knew how to cook chicken. Can it get any more romantic than that? Turns out he was dead serious. The man loves his chicken cooked just right! 

Speaking of chicken, I wanted to share the latest product I tried courtesy of Lawry's and BzzAgent. It is the Lawry's Santa Fe Chili Marinade. I poured the marinade on some chicken wings and added a few dashes of garlic powder, Lawry's Seasoned Salt and some cracked black pepper. I let it sit in the refrigerator for about an hour and then I cooked them in the oven using the broil/bake method. 35 minutes later we ended up with some of the best tasting chicken wings my family had ever had. I regret not cooking more of it because they were just that delicious! I highly recommend you try it out for yourself.

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I received a product samples and coupons because I'm a BzzAgent. All opinions are 100% my own.

I just had to have it

I am not a big television watcher but on occasion I will see something that captures my attention. I confess that some of the "As seen on TV" items suck me in. About 5 or 6 years ago I saw the Pedi Paws pet nail trimmer infomercial and I knew I absolutely had to have it. After all, clipping your doggy's nails is a sometimes difficult task. This product looked like a great solution. Dwayne was against me buying it but knew that there was little he could say to stop me. I did it. I bought it. $19.95.

I tried it and it sounded like a freakin' dental drill!!! Poor Milo was scared to death of the thing and it made the task even harder. Needless to say the doggone (no pun intended) thing has been sitting in the box for years. Lesson learned. I still hear "I told you so" for that one.

Have you ever purchased anything dumb from an infomercial?

Spouse guilt and the stay-at-home mom

I have been a stay-at-home mom for 17 years. I admit that I take my mothering gig overboard at times. I do a lot for my children..after all I am a stay-at-home MOM. Last night Dwayne took me out for dinner and drinks. It had been a few months since we went out on a date night so we were very much overdue for one. It was a great evening except for the couple times that I was looked at with a tad bit disgust because I was having discussions about the kids. I was not trying to talk about them that much...it just sort of happens. I am with 1 or more of my children for almost 24 hours of every day. Isn't it only natural for me to mention them to their dad? Well after last night I realized that I need to watch that when it comes time to having that alone time with the husband. I feel so badly for not making our evening enough about him...about us. I really have to work on that. We do plan on making date night a regular event so we stay connected.

If you are a stay-at-home parent, have you encountered the same issue we have? Do you go out on dates regularly?

When watching TV with me...

I have a very simple rule for when Dwayne watches television with me. He is not allowed to watch:

• reality TV (unless it's a fishing or nature show)
• comedy of any kind (especially Kathy Griffin or Monique)
  
• Tyler Perry films
• Nancy Grace, Wendy Williams or Geraldo Rivera
• inappropriate cartoons- Family Guy, South Park
• No MTV, BET or VH1
• no gossip or talk shows
  

I know, I'm so mean and boring :)