Donating to Charities

I spent half of the day yesterday going through my son's closet and drawers of clothes. He's got tons of clothes that he must have worn once or twice only but unluckily don't fit him anymore. I've bagged three big garbage bags of used pj's, long sleeves, shorts, jeans, active wear tops and bottoms, overalls, winter clothes, blac label clothing including sandals, sneakers and boots. I bagged a lot of old toys too. My son sometimes has a hard time parting ways with his toys but when I showed him pictures of less fortunate children from the Philippines, he agreed to give the toys that he doesn't play with anymore which is really sweet. It's good to teach kids compassion at a young age. I planned to donate them to charity this time, instead of handing them down to friends. I know my friends can afford to buy these things anyway, there are a lot of people who can't.

16 and Pregnant

Guest post from: Marion Slater

I think one of the most interesting shows on television is "16 and Pregnant." This is one of the most tragic shows to watch, but it also shows how teens deal with being young mothers. I love watching this show on my satellite tv from http://www.tvbydirect.com for how it exposes me to all the different realities that teens have to face when they get pregnant. Teens truly have to deal with so many struggles when they get pregnant too young. This show exposes that hard reality.

I think this show is interesting, because it offers the perspectives of fathers and mothers. Young fathers also have a lot of stress to deal with, when they choose to impregnate a young woman. Young fathers always end up having to pay child support, which costs thousands of dollars. All too often, the young mothers do not have the financial stability to support their children and they have to take up a second job. It is so sad to see how hard these mothers have to work at such a young age. I am always amazed to see how young mothers can do so much and still manage to raise young children. I think it is so remarkable and that these young mothers surely deserve a gold medal of some sort! I hope this show encourages young women to not get pregnant.

Rewarding Myself

I have a 'shopping' account online that I only get to touch when I want to splurge on something that I feel guilty buying and yet I couldn't sleep at night thinking how much I'd love to buy it. Rather than sort of taking on a cash advance when I dip into the household budget, it's good to have an alternative source of shopping money. I seldom splurge on anything but if I did, it's really a big ticket item. Well let's just say that it's only my way of rewarding myself for all the hardwork of homemaking. Then it won't bother my conscience anymore that I spent too much, LOL.

Simple Corn Soup

It's no joke preparing hot meals for the family everyday, it takes a while from prepping to cleaning up. Today I just made a simple lunch of grilled chicken breasts, green salad, corn soup and corn on the cob.

SIMPLE CORN SOUP

1 can (15 ounce) Corn Cream Style

1 can (14.5 ounce)Low Sodium Chicken broth

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons water

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a saucepan, combine the cream style corn and chicken broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and water, then pour into the boiling corn soup and continue cooking for about 5 minutes until thickened.

3. Gradually add the beaten egg while stirring the soup.

4. Remove from heat and serve.

Work Out Schedule

So my hb went back to the gym at the beginning of the year. He was so driven till he got asthma attacks, then he had to take a break and then he never went back since. Sometimes it gets frustrating when you're at the peak of momentum then you have to pause and slide down. Not for the reason of building muscles like the effects of creatine supplements would give, but most of all hb goes to the gym to build strength and stamina. That's my goal too, and of course to lose weight and get toned. But squeezing in work-out into our schedule is something we really need to work hard on too.