Job Lead

I've been so focused on my other blog that I haven't spent much time here but I wanted to share a job lead that I found at WAHM. It was posted on Craigslist. I've taken and passed both tests and hoping to hear something from them. Good luck if you decide to take the tests!

Take the test to be considered for this position. Click the link below or paste into your browser to be directed to our testing site:
http://jobs.mediarecall-data.com/
Please enter the invitation code CLNMCL001

If you pass this test, you will be contacted with further information regarding training. If you're selected, you will start at $10/hour and work up to $15/hour based on your speed, quality and reliability. Please be advised that this test will take up to one hour. Feel free to take our clip selection test as well. Pay scales are similar, and this position is better suited to visual individuals with a background in film and television. Full job descriptions are available on the MediaRecall test site.

MediaRecall is a company that offers high-speed, low-cost digital services for video archives to prestigious clients around the world. MediaRecall’s clients include major broadcasting television stations, major public television stations, stock footage companies and cultural institutions. Consequently, the work that one does as a clip selector or logger is essential to creating the quality products and search results demanded by these premier clients.

Some Great Reads

I've been fortunate enough to meet a great group of bloggers that have been more help than any of them know.  If you have a minute please check out their blogs.  You'll find a little bit of everything.

All in a Blog

Angies Silly Stuff

Baby Luvin

Confessions of a Baltimore Housewife

Blog About it

Blog Fogg

Bloggie Mommie

Busy Bee Village
The Cajun Blogger

Chatty Chica

Claudette's Words

Confetti by:Kateedyd

Da Boss And Bryguy

Deal with Chronic Pain

Digital Photography Today

Domesticated Diva

Drizzly Blog

Fat Girl Goes Fit

Feelings Just Are

Five O'Clock Somewhere

Flipping Adentures

4 Cats Make Me Crazy!

The Fuzzbutt Files

The Geeks Girl

Godly Woman

Green 'n' Pink

Happy Healthy Families

Here On Columbia Avenue

Hillbilly Heart
House of Bargains

House Wife Wom

I Don't Commute

I Love My 3 Boys

Jolly Mom

Kateedyd What?!

Kimmi's Krazy World

Kim's Kountry Kitchen

KKB Mom of 3

Kookie Krumblez

Lisa‘s Command Post

Luxury Lifestylez

Making My American Dream

Mama and Hustler???

Mia's Menu Mania

Mia's Motivation

Mix World

Mad Mommy

Moma's Crazy World

Moma's Life

Mommie’s Marbles

Mommy Mia's World

Mom Tidings

Mom to Three Sisters

Mom to Tweens

Moon Babyz

Ms Frugal McDougal

My So Called Blog

My First Steps With Jesus

My-Junk-Drawer

My Name is Not “Mom”

My Wahm Life

My Weekly Beef

Not Just In Your Head

101 Ways to Save

Pamela-te-da

Paradise Fiber Studio

Photos for the Fun of it

Postcard from Somewhere

Pure Jade Home

Raising a Girl

Remotely Mommy

Saving with Style

Saving With Tracy

Shrinking Pamelalala

SlickMom

Something Witty to Say

Surgical Nurse Musings

Talk Time with Kim

teleTwenties

The Jolly Kitchen

Three Times a Brideamaid
Thrifty Momma Ramblings

Thrifty Thoughts

Time Keeps on Flying
Vibrant Healthy U

Wahm Adventures

WICBlog

Work from Home Options

World of Homemaking

World of Mom

SAHM to WAHM

I just realized that I need to change my profile to read WAHM instead of SAHM.  I started working with ChaCha about 6 weeks ago.  I definitely won't get rich quick doing it but I've set a goal of making at least $20 each day.  Some days it goes by fast other days not so much.  And some of the questions are amazing (amazingly weird!)  Imagine a lonely teenage boy with unlimited texting.  Yeah I get some weird ones.  I've also gotten some that are really disturbing, I dreaded getting a message referring to suicide and I've gotten 3 of those.  Those are the one's I probably will never forget. 

It's not the job for everyone but for me it has worked out really well.  And it makes for great Christmas money.

I have actually been thinking about how grateful I am to have this type of job though.  I can work when I want and for how long I want.  I haven't worked at all the past week because of the pneumonia and it's nice to know I didn't have to call in or force myself to go into work. 

So, it's back to work tomorrow night at least for a few hours.

It snowed!!!!

The weather prediction was a little off - and not in a good way! We got a FOOT of snow today! The boys were so excited they could hardly stand it. The snow was too wet to make a fort but they had a blast just running through it and throwing it.

Tater took this picture around 4:00 -a lot of it had melted by then

I thought this was kind of funny-Not sure if you can see it but there is a perfect little rose behind the tombstone and surrounded in snow.

If you've never tried homemade snow ice cream, you're missing out! It is actually really good and so easy to make. I know some people will be concerned about the pollutants that may be in the snow but I think for an every once in awhile treat it should be fine.

Here's How:

Mix all ingredients together and eat!

Tips:
Experiment with other extracts like almond and mint. You can also try orange, lime or lemon extracts for a "sherbert" dessert.
To make ice cream even creamier add 1/2 of a mashed banana.

What You Need:
1 cup Half & Half
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash of salt
5 cups of fresh, clean snow

Keep us in your warm thoughts - we should thaw out soon!

Teachers

I truly believe some people are meant to teach and have always been grateful for those teachers. On the other hand, some people should not teach. Unfortunately, Rooster has a teacher that should probably be in another field. It is his math teacher, which is a class he struggles in anyway and the teacher is making it that much tougher. Rooster has had one teacher in the past that I had to go the principal about but we worked through it.

At PTC last week we sat down with this teacher and his first words were "why are you here?" I thought we must have made a mistake and maybe we were only supposed to meet with certain teachers. Rooster told him we were there to talk about his grades and the teacher said you can do that online and proceeded to say how Rooster doesn't "give anything back" in class and he doesn't do anything unless he is prompted. When we got up to leave, the teacher told another teacher he knew he shouldn't leave but that he had enough and was out of there.

I have never been treated so rudely nor had my child so blatenly degraded. I'm not sure why this man teaches if he doesn't enjoy (or even tolerate) it. I am seriously considering pulling him from this class next semester which is difficult for me because I want my kids to learn to deal with all different types of people but then I wonder if it's possible to work with someone like this. Math is also such an important class that I really need him to be with someone he can learn from.

Not a cold

There is not much in life that I truly hate but going to the doctor definitely falls under that category. My cold wasn't going away, if fact I felt like it was getting worse so I broke down and made an appointment. I was so confused when he told me he needed to do a chest x-ray and asked him why when I was sure I only had a sinus infection. Turns out I actually have pneumonia. I've been spending a lot of time in bed, Bunco last night wasn't bat wings and all the yummy stuff I had planned (did KFC instead) and have zero plans for this weekend. I don't have time to be sick but I really don't have time to be sick in the hospital so I'll take it easy this weekend and hope Monday is better.

As women, we need to remember to take time for ourself and if that means we're sick for a day or two so be it. I really think if I had taken care of the cold up front I wouldn't have pneumonia now.

What a way to end the summer!

I'm sad to see summer go but even more sad about the way it ended! Not with a big BBQ as we usually do but instead sick and in bed. Rooster and I have a cold for the past week. He missed a day of school and has been getting better. On the other hand, I've done nothing but sleep and cough and blow my nose for a week. Enough is enough! I guess I should count my blessings because Tater and Twitch haven't got it yet. They will probably wait until I'm better and pass it back to me.

Here's to hoping we all have a healthier fall and winter!

Organize your coupons

There are several ways to organize your coupons. The first method I used was a binder system. I cut out every coupon (yes, every single coupon from my 5 copies of the paper!) and placed them in a binder that was filled with baseball cardholders and divided into categories such as; dairy, bread, paper products, meat, toiletries etc. You could use whatever categories suit your needs.

Prior to a shopping trip, I pulled out the coupons I needed and put them in an envelope but I took the binder with me. I was able to find deals that I wasn’t aware of and had the coupons with me to use. However, I spent 2-4 hours on Sunday cutting out and organizing the coupons. I figured the amount I was saving on extra deals wasn’t enough to justify me spending that much time getting them ready.

I have since switched to a filing system. I use manila folders and file each Sundays coupons in their own folder labeled with the date. I only cut out the coupons I need prior to going shopping.

FYI: Many oversea military bases can use expired coupons.

Using coupons to save and make money

I was never a big coupon user. It just made no sense to me to spend time cutting out coupons to save a couple of dollars a week. About a year ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the Pinching Your Pennies website and my life has never been the same. That may sound a little dramatic but I went from spending around $150 a week on groceries to spending $40 a week. Not only do I save money I also have an incredible amount of food storage and toiletries built up.

The key is using multiple coupons to purchase items in bulk when they are on sale. I currently get 5 copies of my local Sunday paper and I’ve traded and purchased coupons off of Ebay when there is a great deal.

Very rarely do I pay for toilet paper. I never pay more that 25 cents for toothpaste, more than $1 for cereal or $1 for deodorant. My kids joke that they need to go to the store (which is the basement) for a new tube of toothpaste.

You can also make money using coupons. Recently, my local Wal-Mart had Powerade on sale for 60 cents. I had coupons for 75 cents off each bottle, so I made 15 cents on each bottle I bought. It my not seem like a lot but I had 30 coupons so I made $4.50 and got the Powerade for free. Not all stores will let you take the full value of the coupon but my local Wal-Mart does.

Halloween!

Halloween is my favorite holiday! Next month I'm hosting Bunco at my house so I get to go all out with decorations and food.

I'm going to make bat wings, brain on a plate(mashed potatoes in a brain mold), some kind of a veggie or salad, alien autopsies (a drink) and pumpkin cheesecake.

I made the bat wings for Rooster and Tater's kids Halloween party last year and they were a hit, at least among the kids that dared to eat them.

Barbecued Bat Wings

4 pounds chicken wings
2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 cups molasses
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
Hot sauce to taste
Salt
Black pepper
Black paste food coloring
Blue paste food coloring
Green paste food coloring

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Boil the chicken wings for twenty minutes in a large pot. While the wings are cooking, prepare the sauce. Whisk together the ketchup, molasses, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, hot sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth in a large roasting pan. Add enough black, blue, and green food colorings to the sauce to make a dark black sauce. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, stirring once.

Drain the wings well and add them to the sauce and toss to coat evenly, poking the wings liberally with a fork.

Bake for 20 minutes, then increase the temperature to 450 degrees. Toss the wings in the sauce again to coat evenly. Bake until the sauce is thickened and slightly blackened, flipping the wings over occasionally, about another 15 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

My turn for cooking

Wow! It was little stressful to have 3 families waiting on me for their dinner. We agreed that drop off time would be 5:00 and when I checked my chicken dish at 4:00 the chicken was still raw. Had a minor freak out but recovered and managed to have all of the dinners delivered by 5:20. Wahoo!

Overall it went well. I hope everyone enjoyed their dinner. I'm sure I'll enjoy the next two days.

Dinner Exchange

I’m so excited! My neighbors and I started a dinner exchange group and last night was the first night of the swap. There are 4 families included in our swap. I cook dinner Tuesday night and Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday I get to sit back and wait for dinner to come to me. It was so nice not to stress out about what I was going to make tonight and dinner was great! My good friend/neighbor made ravioli soup, rolls and pumpkin bread for dessert. Yum!!

I’m not sure yet whether or not it will save me actual dollars but the convenience and the change in meals will be fantastic.

My suggestions on starting a group would be to look really close at the families you want in the group. You really need to be able to communicate freely with everyone. If someone brings a dinner a family doesn’t like we know that we can say that it didn’t work out so well and not have hurt feelings.

We also meet a couple of weeks ago and talked about things our families didn’t like and came up with a calendar of meals for the next 6 weeks.

I’ll update tomorrow with my feelings after I cook dinner for 16 people but for now I think it is going to be great!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. My goal is to share information I've learned about saving money on groceries and everyday items as well as any information I find as I attempt to find a WAH job.

I'll share stories of being a mom to two great boys and the trials and happiness we find as we try to make sense of the crazy life we live.

Thanks for joining me! Feel free to leave me any comments or suggestions.