General Tso's Chicken...QUICK & EASY!!

One of our absolute FAVORITE meals is General Tso's Chicken with rice and veggies.  It's also one of our splurges as far as calories and price.  I recently decided to make it at home.  This recipe is simple & easy to make and clean up after.  This had my husband running up the hall to investigate the source of the smell ;)

Ingredients::

1 lb chicken breast cut into small nuggets

1-2 cups of flour (for dredging)

2 tbsp. EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup pineapple juice

1/4 cup white distilled vinegar

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tbsp. cornstarch, mixed with 3 tbsp. water

Instructions::

Heat oil first, on medium heat.  Dredge chicken in flour and cayenne, fry in oil until golden brown and crispy. Drain excess oil.  While your chicken is cooking, get your sauce mixture going (sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, vinegar, garlic & ginger), heat this mixture on a lower setting. When sauce is smooth and well-mixed, add cornstarch mixture SLOWLY and stir until you reach your desired thickness.  Then pour the mixture over your chicken.  Serve with your favorite veggies and rice.  I used Squash and Zucchini from last summer's garden, along with Broccoli and Basmati rice. 

Kids Rooms are DONE!!

We FINALLY got the kids' rooms done.  We moved in last February after our floors were done.  And we decided to put painting off until we were settled in.  We decided that Christmas was THE perfect time to do it.  Everything is magical, suprises abound & the kids were BOTH SO appreciative for their newly painted rooms.

Kyleigh's room was a horrible Pepto-pink with a wallpaper accent wall. If you check out one of my previous posts, you'll see JUST how awful it was.  When we thought we had a house the previous year, I had picked out a beautiful color called Pre-dawn Sky for her.  It's a poppy color that just fits my daughter's personality.  Here is the end result (ALONG with her IKEA Trofast organizer that has simplified life just a tad.)

Kade's room was just a flat, dull, boring white.  Which is the absolute complete opposite of my entertainer of a boy. He chose a "creeper" green (you Minecraft parents & peeps know what I'm talking about!) I don't have  a before picture but it's easy to imagine a blank room. And here is the end result of his room.

I have SO many more plans for this house.  And hopefully, many more posts showing off things we've accomplished due to many hours of Pinteresting & HGTV binging.  Thank you for reading!! 

DIY Lego Table from Ikea Lack

My babies have been SO into Legos for a while.  My son is a major Minecraft fanatic and my daughter had sweet-talked her Mimi into buying her the Elsa Ice Castle Lego set. With several sets on their way to our house, I started Googling to see how pricey Lego tables can run you.  RIDICULOUS!! Some of the cheaper ones were more expensive than making my own from Ikea would be.  I decided to buy two Ikea Lack tables. The white one for my daughter was on sale for $7.99 and my son's green one was $9.99.  Shipping ran me $10.  I got on Amazon & found the gray 48x48 Lego Classic Baseplates for $14.99 with free shipping with my Prime account.  I read that the Gorilla Wood Glue would be my best bet at getting the baseplates to stick to the table.  This ran me $4 at Walmart.  It took all of 5 minutes to glue the baseplates on and I let them dry overnight.  Screwing the legs into the tables took the longest amount of time.  I spent roughly $63 on the supplies and a whopping total of about 40 minutes making both tables.  The kids were SO surprised Christmas morning and love them already.  They've been put to the test and when you use the Lego pry tool, the baseplates do not budge or show any signs of loosening from the table top.  I highly recommend making one if your kids are into Legos and you don't want to spend a small fortune!!

Tomoson Review

I tried using Tomoson a few months back.  I was emailed by a fellow blogger and invited to join and told of what a great opportunity it would be to make some money on the side.  I mean what mama couldn't use a few extra dollars?? Especially at Christmas at that!?!? 

I signed up and quickly started applying to different promotions.  I got invited to a few that weren't paid opportunities.  I'm guessing this was because I was a newbie.  Although maybe there aren't any where you make money.  I wouldn't know.  I didn't make it that far.  

I ran into a few bumps in the road with the promotion codes being provided by my sellers.  Which then led to me receiving my products later than I'd expected.  GREAT products by the way.  However, being behind on the dates I was to review by was an issue.  I reviewed my products on my blog & had them verified (or so I thought via the website.)  Then the next week, I tried to log in to add some new promos to my listing.  I was informed that my account was suspended for 0% activity.  

I'm not saying that they are a scam site.  I have no idea.  But I was given NO chance to find out otherwise.  Also, their communication is slack.  I sent several emails trying to see about getting my account reactivated.  No such luck.  I received an email this past week that was supposedly forwarded to another department to be reviewed for reactivation.  

I would steer clear of this site if you are looking for a way to make some money quick.  Sites like Opinion Outpost and NCP are a guaranteed way!! 

Wallpaper Removal Made Easy!!

I don't have many pictures of my daughter's room at our new house showing the hideous wallpaper, but now I've got a few with some of it gone.  We decided to paint the kids' rooms for Christmas and the wallpaper had to go.  The zebra pattern seemed to burn my eyes everytime I stepped in Kyleigh's room.  I made a little concoction in a $0.97 spray bottle from Walmart and it started to peel away.  

I added about 1/3 of the bottle full of Vinegar.  Just plain, white, distilled Vinegar.  And the rest of the bottle was filled with boiling water (by a funnel...burns on the hands are no joke.)  I sprayed it on the walls and let it set and do it's magic for about 15 minutes.  My kids absolutely loved peeling and trashing the wallpaper.  It took about an hour and fifteen minutes due to having to refill the bottle three times and tend to kids in between.  But overall was fairly easy.  I still have a few pieces left that I couldn't get to due to our school work and playtime outside.  Along with my daughter's monogram in the way.  Below are pictures of the process.  Enjoy and good luck to any others attempting to remove this pesky mess!!

...Annnnnd we FINALLY lost a tooth

I was starting to get worried when Kade hadn't lost a tooth.  I asked his dentist at his last checkup in May since nearly every one of his friends had lost a tooth (or 4) by the time they turned 6.  He told me that basically just means I'm taking good care of his teeth and that they basically just hang out unless they take a huge hit.   

Well that hit took place about 3 weeks ago at a birthday party.  Kade slid down the water slide and straight into his sister's hard head.  Lots of swelling, a huge cut, and a bruised gum. NO loose teeth that day.  

A little over a week ago, we finally saw some wiggling from a bottom tooth.  Which then turned into hours of wiggling, annoyance, not eating well & tons of frustration!! I finally pleaded with my child to let my aunt tug on it at church Sunday. (Somebody at church had told him the tooth fairy gives $20 for the first tooth you lose!) And he was game, Legos aren't cheap but he knows his mama is!! It began pouring blood which made him FURIOUS to say the least.  He milked it for a while until I asked him to watch "The Tooth Fairy" (the version with the Rock in it. NOT the horror story!!) He started to really understand the concept and agreed to let us get it out, but only the way his drum teacher suggested.  String, Tooth & Door.  You get the picture.  We totally got a video to post on our YouTube Channel for that as well.  I'll work on getting it uploaded over the next few days.  If you want to check it out, you can find a link to our channel on the sidebar ;)  

And now, pictures of the snaggle tooth!!

Little Tikes Playhouse Makeover....Doc Clinic Edition

A few years ago, I saw this playhouse sitting on the side of the road.  I never had one when I was growing up so I whined and pleaded with Josh to get it for me.  The day he went by to ask about it, he showed up at my parents with it crammed in the back of his Ford.  Kade was tickled.  And Kyleigh couldn't walk yet, so she wasn't the biggest fan.  It was faded out, missing a shutter, and had rusted hinges and knobs that had been replaced.  But for $30, it was a steal!! I have checked these houses out now. One similar would cost us at least $150.  

This playhouse sat at my parents for a while.  When we got situated in our old house, we took it with us.  And of course, it was rarely played in.  Mostly used for sitting on the roof and watching lightning bugs in the summer.  I told my daughter back then that I would turn it into a Doc McStuffins clinic for her.  Which, a year and a half later I have come through on.  Back in May, I got tired of looking at it sitting in the fenced yard.  Faded out and rusted.  I went online, found a picture of the colors of Doc's clinic and took a trip to Walmart.  I found Rustoleum Seaside, Marigold & Apple Red in High Gloss.  Spraypainting wasn't the headache on this project, taking it apart to paint it all different colors was.  

(Somewhat finished!!)

I ran out of the Seaside Blue (which I've been unable to locate, until now on Amazon.)  I'll be posting more pictures of the finished product.  I only have the tiny part at the base left.  Then i'll be moving on to the inside.  And I haven't decided what i'll do to it.  But this is a huge improvement from the eyesore it was before.  The kids also have another Little Tikes Playhouse at my parents I'll be doing once I'm finished with this one.  I'm thinking i'll let Kade pick out what theme we will go with for it.  Keep checking back for updates of the finished outside & interior ;)