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Monthly Archives: October 2012
Crock Pot Orange Chicken
Last night my sister and I wanted something that resembled takeout for dinner but without the crazy pricing so we decided to make crock pot orange chicken. I have to say for the first time making it that it came out tasting great and was on the easy side to make.
(Sucky Picture, Oh well!)
Ingredients
4-6 Boneless Chicken Breasts, Cut up into chunks
1/4 C. Flour
Olive Oil
1 Frozen Orange Juice From Concentrate, Cut in half
5 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Ketchup
Directions
Cut the chicken breasts into chunks. Pour flour into a Ziploc bag and add the chicken. Shake to coat chicken with flour.
Heat olive oil in a pan and add the chicken. Cook on medium heat until brown.
Mix together ketchup, orange juice(1 half) and brown sugar in a bowl.
Set your crock pot on low and add the chicken pieces. Pour the orange juice mixture over the chicken and stir.
Allow to cook on low for around five hours.
Serve over rice.
Enjoy!
Mom Failing?!
I’m failing my son or at least that’s how I feel after I attended my sons first parent teacher conference today. Oh dear god, I don’t even know where to start! I guess I’ll start with what they started with; I have a loving, polite and kind little boy. Great, right? Yup, but that isn’t anything I didn’t know already. What else did they have to say? That while he is all the above things he also has an extremely hard time focusing. Another thing I was already fully aware of.
I wasn’t aware however though that for the past few weeks my son hasn’t even been attending lessons with the rest of his kindergarten class but has instead been going into another classroom with eleven other students. Why? Apparently he’s behind the other students and needs extra help. Although I was aware that he was a little behind I wasn’t aware that he was behind enough to require him to be put in another classroom. I felt completely blindsided! If this has been happening for a few weeks shouldn’t i have been informed beforehand or weeks ago!
Not only that but they pretty much told me that Hunter wouldn’t be going to first grade next year. Its the tenth of October and you’re already pretty much telling me that my son won’t move into the next grade NEXT YEAR in OCTOBER?! Are you kidding me?! We aren’t even two months into the year! At this point I was holding back tears because even though hes getting the extra help he needs I feel like they are also giving up on him at the same time.
I’m frustrated….beyond frustrated! I want to cry! I feel like I have completely failed my son and that its my fault he is so behind. I haven’t always been able to focus on helping him with the ABC’s or reading to him as much as i want to until this year because I’m finally able to balance my life a little more to where I have the time. So I guess I’m pretty much failing my kid. Ugh. I’m open to any comments, suggestions, advice!
Wordless Wednesday – Attack Of The Lizard
Apparently everyone in this house is afraid of lizards….except the man of the house of course.
Granted, he’s five so he really doesn’t know better.
This is what happened when I discovered a lizard in the bathroom this evening.
Chaos Erupted.
First my sister hid on her bed and screamed like a baby that she was NEVER leaving her bed again until the lizard was gone.
And then I informed her that clearly lizards can climb and that hiding on top of her bed wasn’t going to keep her from being eaten?! in her sleep!!
So then Hunter decided that his new mission (anything to get him out of having to go to bed) would be to catch the lizard…..
Unfortunately he was too short so he decided to try and get it down with the vacuum cleaner.
FAIL.
The lizard is still hanging out in the bathroom creeping around.
EWWW.
Lizard 1 Everyone Else 0
Progresso Light Creamy Soups Review and Giveaway
I’ve always loved to curl up with a good book and a hot bowl of soup on a chilly fall day but in the past few years I’ve been doing this less and less because of how unhealthy a lot of soups can be. Progresso Light Soups lets me once again enjoy soup while still eating healthy.
Progresso Light soups have just gotten better with the addition of Creamy Bacon with Potato and Cheese along with Chicken Pot Pie Style to the forty Light soups that they already have. Both the Creamy Bacon with Potato and Cheese and the Chicken Pot Pie Style soups are endorsed by Weight Watchers. They contain only one hundred calories and 2 points per serving. The Light Chicken Pot Pie Style has 33% fewer calories than the regular ready-to-serve soups while the Light Creamy Potato with Bacon and Cheese has 50% fewer calories. Awesome, right? Its like having your cake and eating it too!
I was recently given the opportunity to try both the Creamy Bacon with Potato and Cheese and the Chicken Pot Pie Style soups and I have to say I was impressed with both. Our favorite though was the Chicken Pot Pie Style it was rich, filling and delicious and had real chunks of chicken in it!
Along with the two flavors of soup that I received I also received an awesome water bottle, lunch tote and a soup bowl making enjoying my Progresso Light soup on the go even easier! Now is your chance to get in on the fun and try both flavors of the new Progresso Light soups for yourself by entering Just The Two Of Us’ Progresso Light Gift Pack Giveaway. All you have to do to enter is to use the easy Rafflecopter form below! For those of you that aren’t the lucky winner Progresso is offering a coupon for $1.25 off the purchase of four cans of Progresso soups.
Disclosure: The coupons, information, and gift packs have been provided by Progresso® through MyBlogSpark.
Saving Money On Textbooks With CampusBookRentals.Com
The first time I ever had to purchase college textbooks I was shocked at how expensive they were and the cost hasn’t dropped since then. A single one can cost hundreds of dollars so just a handful of books required for classes can end up costing an already broke college student close to a thousand dollars. CampusBookRentals.Com gives students another option though!
CampusBookRentals.Com allows you to rent you’re textbooks instead of purchasing them and at the fraction of the cost saving you between 40-90% off retail price. Not only will you save but you also don’t have to worry about paying shipping costs as CampusBookRentals.Com also covers shipping both ways. If you’re like me and are a bit highlighter happy don’t worry because CampusBookRentals.Com allows you to highlight in their books. CampusBookRentals.Com is a great option for students looking to save money on their text books this school year and with their flexible renting periods it makes life that much easier.
One of the great things about CampusBookRentals.Com though is that with each textbook that they rent they donate to Operation Smile. Operation Smile is an international organization that helps to provide surgery to children with facial deformities and put the smile back on their faces. Operation Smile is an amazing organization and is only one more reason to rent your textbooks through CampusBookRentals.Com!
Vote For Fitness
Voting in the presidential election is important…so is voting for your family’s fitness. Excercise your child’s right for fun-filled activities, gymnastics, sports and more. Take advantage of one of these amazing offers and you’ll be entered to win My Gym Free for a Year!
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Win My Gym FREE for a Year – plus a FREE Birthday Party http://www.my-gym.com/oct2012.aspx
10 Fall Recipes and Crafts
Fall is one of my favorite times of year. I love everything about it from the crisp air to the smell of wood smoke in the air along with all the yummy fall foods, crafts and decorations. So in honor of one of my favorite times of year I wanted to share a little bit of the above with all of you!
Fall Recipes
Pumpkin Bread Pudding – King Arthur Flour
Apple Ice Cream With Caramel Brandy Sauce – Time For A Little Something
Peanut Butter Pots – Be Different Act Normal
Caramelized Pumpkin Seeds – Cooking With My Kid
Fall Crafts
Boo Sign – Then She Made
Candy Corn Centerpiece – Ashbeedesign
Coffee Filter Pumpkins – Over The Big Moon
Halloween Carafe – Everyday Reading
Halloween Block – Burton Avenue
Seven Little Kid Friendly Theme Parks
Seven Little Kid Friendly Theme Parks
This one obviously makes the list because its where dreams come true! I’ll admit this year was the first time I’ve ever been to Magic Kingdom but it truly is a magical place and fun for everyone in the family. There is so much to do and so much to see! Your children’s favorite movies and shows are brought to life directly in front of their eyes and they get to be up close and personal.
I absolutely loved Animal Kingdom when we visited this spring and I would actually recommend it over Magic Kingdom if your looking for something a little bit more laid back. Make sure you check out both the Nemo themed show and the Lion King which were both incredible! One of my favorite parts of Animal Kingdom is that there are times through out the day where you can meet some of your favorite Disney Characters like Mickey and Minnie.
Rides, animals and some other awesome attractions! Of course one of our favorite parts of Sea World was seeing the whales perform and getting to see all the other animals. Hunter really enjoyed cooling off in the kids splash area and getting to see the bears.
Legoland –
if you have a lego lover in your family then Legoland is might be the perfect theme park destination for your family. With two locations in the US; Winter Have, FL and Carlsbad, CA Legoland is jam packed with Lego statues and activities. Make sure to check out Miniland USA! They also have a lot of great rides that are geared towards smaller children. However if you do decide to visit Legoland I would recommend waiting till you can get a discount pass as their prices are a bit steep. Also keep in mind that a lot of their rides aren’t for children under 36 inches.
Santa’s Village isn’t your typical theme park but its definitely geared towards the younger crowd. Toddlers and holiday lovers will definitely enjoy this Christmas themed theme park. You can ride a reindeer on the carousel, sit on Santa’s lap, Ride Santa’s Express train, feed a real life reindeer and more.
Sesame Place located in Langhorne, PA is the perfect place to visit with your little Sesame Street fan. Sesame Place has tons of water rides like Big Bird’s Rambling River and Sesame Streak. There is also a ton of dry rides like Big Bird’s Balloon Race and Elmo’s World. The park also has a ton of shows, parades and opportunity’s to meet your kids favorite Sesame Street character!
Tiny Prints 2012 Holiday Collection and Giveaway
One of the things that I look forward to the most during the holidays is decorating my holiday cards. I love sending them and I also love to receive them. In the past few years though I’ve noticed that more and more peoples cards are a tad boring and that people tend to end up using the same design over and over. That’s why for the past few years I have been using Tiny Prints for all my holiday card needs. I use Tiny Prints because not only do they have beautiful unique designs to choose from but their always high quality, easy to design and I’m never disappointed with the results.
Tiny Prints has even more beautiful and unique designs to choose from this year. With over 800 designs there is something that fits every ones needs and wants whether it be more classic or fun and colorful. This year along with even more beautiful designs they are also offering new Premium DoubleThick Mattee paper which is their most luxurious paper to date!
I spent some time browsing through all the beautiful bright cards, gathering ideas for what I might use this year for my own holiday card and I have to say I am super excited to upload my photos and start designing! Interested in using Tiny Prints for your holiday card needs? Tiny Prints is constantly running awesome promotions so make sure you check out their special offers page for savings!
Already a fan of Tiny Prints? Stop by their Facebook or Twitter page and show them some love!
Tiny Prints is giving one lucky Just The Two Of Us reader the chance to win a $50 Promo Code (doesn’t include shipping & handling)! Just use the Rafflecopter form below to enter! Good luck!
Just The Two Of Us 