Everything Wonton

I love wonton wrappers!! I can have 8 of the Nasoya brand ones for 4 points plus. They are so versatile too.
Tonight I really wanted pizza so I made some wonton pizza bites. They are yummy and you can eat all 8 for 9 points plus or they are 1 point plus a piece. (These point counts are based on what I got when I put the recipe into the Weight Watcher's recipe builder.)

Wonton Pizza Bites
8 wonton wrappers ( I should clarify, these are the small square ones not the big egg roll ones)
1/8 c Ragu Chunky Mushroom Spaghetti Sauce
16 Turkey Pepperoni slices
3/8c shredded fat free mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 350. I cover a cookie sheet with foil and give it a VERY LIGHT spray of olive oil spray. Lay out the wonton wrappers on the cookie sheet. Use a spoon to spread a small amount of the Ragu sauce on each wonton. Place 2 pepperoni on each wonton and top with a sprinkle of the cheese. Bake in the oven for 8 minutes.
Enjoy! 

You could also add fresh mushrooms, fresh spinach, or fresh peppers and since they are veggies they won't add any points!

I also make these wonton taco cups with wonton wrappers and a cupcake pan. They are great as an appetizer, party snack, or a dinner.

Wonton Taco Cups
8 wonton wrappers
1/2c taco meat ( I use lean ground beef cooked, seasoned, and well drained)
1/4 c shredded fat free cheddar cheese
grape tomatoes and lettuce for topping

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cupcake pan VERY LIGHTLY with olive oil spray. Place one wonton in each cup and push it down gently to make a wonton cup. Fill each cup with some of the taco meat. Top each cup with a sprinkle of cheese. Bake for 8 minutes. When done baking top with halved grape tomatoes and shredded lettuce.

These taco cups are 1 point plus a piece or 11 points plus for all 8.

Starting a Journey with a Single Step

It all started almost 7 years ago. I was working as a nail tech in a day spa and had just had my first baby. Just like many new moms out there I was also carrying around my post pregnancy weight. I had gained weight before I got pregnant and gained more during. I was officially 30lbs heavier than I felt comfortable with. Working at the day spa I had my regular clients I would see every month at least. Well I started to notice more than one of them shrinking in size. When I complimented them on their weight loss they all told me the same thing; Weight Watchers. At the time I took this as a sign; I should join Weight Watchers. I seriously considered it but the cost of the program was out of reach for me. Then I got pregnant with my second baby and figured," What's the point now?"

Fast forward; my children are now almost 5 and 7. I have been a stay at home mom for 5 years and managed to add on another 20lbs putting me at a total 50lbs heavier than I should be. I finally listened to the nagging voice in my head and decided to sign up for Weight Watchers.
That was 16 weeks ago.......

Today I am down 30lbs with 23lbs to go to my goal. I LOVE Weight Watchers!! It has taught me how to make better, healthier choices in what I eat and how I spend my day. Now I am not one for exercise at all but I have been using resistance bands and counting my steps during the day. The biggest thing I have learned is portion control. It's crazy at first when you see what 3oz of chicken looks like compared to what we are used to eating but eventually I got used to it and now it's just normal. The other thing that has surprised me is how much I enjoy snacking on baby carrots and apples. I used to grab a box of Cheez -Its and eat the whole thing!!! ( not good)

One of my new favorite treats is a 3-2-1 cake in cup. All you need is a box of angel food cake mix and another box of any cake mix you'd like. Take the two boxes of cake mix and dump them into a Ziplock bag and mix them all together till well blended. Now when you want a treat take out a coffee cup and your Ziplock bag of cake mix. Put 3TB of the cake mix into the cup along with 2TB of water. Mix well. ( I use a fork as a sort of mini whisk to make sure its mixed up really good) Once it's all mixed microwave it for 1 minute. ENJOY!! It's only 2 points plus a serving!!  I use angel food cake mix and Betty Crocker's French Vanilla Cake mix.

Saving Money and Killing Germs

Hello all! Long time no see.....or is it write?? Anywho, I decided to take my hubby's advice and share my brilliant discovery with the masses, but before I shared I decided to check the almighty Pintrest to see if anyone else had beat me o the punch. Surprise! Of course another great mind out there had already figured everything out and even posted a video. So instead of making my own tutorial I decided to write my little blurb on here and link the video. ( Lazy, I know lol)
How many of you have one of those little Lysol no touch soap dispenser gadgets? Well we do. My mom decided they were great stocking stuffers this last Christmas. I love the little thing. It keeps the kids from pumping out an entire bottle of soap to wash their hands and it makes life so easy when your hands are covered in yuck and you don't want to touch a soap pump. That said, I hate that there are only two refills offered at my local Target; Pomegranate something and Fresh breeze something. Both VERY smelly, both Lysol brand only, and both a whole $4 a pop. I have heard they are up to $9 in some places!! Well I became determined to make the little empty "one time use" soap cartridge multiple use. I bought my favorite gallon size jug of Target brand hand soap ($3.99) and set to work.
Once I ejected the cartridge and took a close look it was obvious the brains at Lysol designed this thing to not open. My first thought was a flat head screw driver. It didn't work too well. I needed something long and flat. A Butter knife!!!! I stuck that little baby under the edge of the cap and POP!! It shot off like a champagne cork. I filled the cartridge up with the Target soap, snapped the lid back on, and popped it into the machine. TADA!! Lysol refill for .99!! I've done this 3 times now and it has worked like a charm each time. I figure eventually I will wear the cartridge out and have to buy a new one but for now it works great!

After making this discovery I shared it with all my family. My husband then said " You should Pin that." I thought "I should Pin it!" Well before I did I decided to search Pintrest for any preexisting Pins. Of course I found a few and I found this video here made by SustainablyFrugal on Youtube.

A Second Week in My Life; Day 6&7

I am late!! This weekend we had Ava's 1/2 Birthday party. I found out one of the other boys in her class was having his party the same day at almost the same time so I was worried about our turn out. It ended up working out just perfectly though. We rented this party place that has bounce houses and games. They do all the set up and clean up for you, all I had to bring was cupcakes, drinks, and treat bags. We had about 15 kids and everyone had a blast.

Ava in the birthday seat

Ethan getting an airbrush tattoo

Ava getting an airbrush tattoo

Cake time!

 Thankfully I had put stroganoff in the crock pot that morning so when we got home from the party I barely had to do anything for dinner. After dinner I had to go to work. By the time I got home from work I was EXHAUSTED so it was off to bed for me. Sunday morning Tom went fishing super early. The kids and I spent the morning lounging around and watching TV. After Tom got home we dropped the kids off at my moms and headed to the theater for the matinee showing of The Hunger Games. Gotta say, I loved the books, but I darn near hated the movie. The camera movements made me sea sick! I hated the camera shots and the way it jerked around soooo much. Also I really felt like the actors were not that great at all. There were moments that I liked but for the most part I just really didn't like it at all. :( After the movie we picked the kids up, came home, and ordered pizza for dinner.
I finished the baby blanket I was working on :) Now I'm starting the little baby sweater.
So there you have a week in my rather dull and ordinary life. Hope I didn't bore you all too much ;)

The blanket while it was being blocked

All done!

A Second Week in My Life; Day 5

Today started off MUCH better than any other day this week. I have been soooooo tired all week that I felt like I was dragging and all foggy, but today was the first day I felt back normal. Thank God :) It probably had to do with the full night's sleep I got last night. Tom left at 5:30 this morning to go fishing. His alarm pretty much woke me up so I decided to just get up and get going. It was nice. The kids don't get up till 6:45-7 so I had almost a whole hour and half to get ready all by myself :)
Oh and we got a "great" surprise this morning............SNOW! No joke! The weather is giving me whiplash. Yesterday it was 65 and bright and sunny. Today it's 33, heavy wet snow, and no sun to speak of :(  Today is pajama day at Ava's school so getting her ready was super easy. I had to go clean snow off my car and warm it up to take her to school and I figured since I was already out I might as well run to the store. I had to get candy for the goody bags tomorrow, some bottled water for the party, milk (not for the party, just for us), and epsom salt (for Po). The snow quit falling at least so it wasn't as bad out. At the store I found the Vanilla Coconut milk by Silk and decided to try it. If you didn't know this about me already let me explain. Milk freaks me out. Seriously, I can't stand it. It's juice squeezed from a cow!! YUCK!! So I am always trying new milk alternative. I like soy. I can't drink almond because I am allergic and rice milk is eh. We'll see how the coconut milk goes.
When we got home I set to work on the 24 goody bags for Ava's party tomorrow. We made 12 for the boys and 12 for the girls. After I got all the bags done I needed something to hold them in. I found this box I had and decided to dress it up a little. It's not much but it's cuter than a brown cardboard box. :)

Before

After

Ethan and I had lunch with my mom, step dad, and Tom. We got Chinese and took it to the hospital where my mom works to have lunch with her.  After we got home I spent about an hour online trying to figure out how to mail a 6'6" fishing pole (Tom's broke and we have to send it back to the company to get a replacement), checking email, facebook, and pinning. Then I took a little nap. :) At 3 I went to go pick up Ava and was greeted by heavy, wet snowfall. Ick.

More snow.............

Ethan, yesterday when it was sunny and 65

After I got Ava home I decided it was time to give the fish a epsom salt bath. It went smoothly and afterwards he does look tons better, still constipated (LOL) but definitely more colorful and active so hopefully that means he'll be all better soon. I know, there are the crazy cat people and then there's me; crazy fish lady! lol
The snow finally let up so after dinner I went to the hardware store and bought some pink and purple duct tape to make "labels" for the water bottles for the party tomorrow. I was going to print some and laminate them with clear packing tape but my printer is dangerously low on ink and $50 for ink is alot more than $10 for duct tape. Now my night will probably be filled with Netflix and crochet or reading. Goodnight!

Pink and purple duct tape and water bottles

Pink and Purple labels :)

I almost forgot! I bought our Hunger Games tickets tonight and got my mom to babysit!! We are going Sunday afternoon...I can't wait :)

A Second Week in My Life; Day 4

I sucked at taking pictures again today :( Sorry. It was a really nice day too. 65 degrees and sunny :) I started off this morning getting Ava ready for school. Tom took her to school so I didn't have to get ready right away. So I told you all about our new Betta fish, well I am convinced I am killing him. Seriously, I have been researching Bettas online and I am convinced I have done something wrong. I was going crazy so after alot of research I went to the pet store. The fish guy at the pet store tried to convince me the fish is fine but I was not believing him. I bought another additive for his water, some different food, a PH test kit, and some Betta medicine just in case. Surprisingly it wasn't even that expensive. After I got home I tested the PH of the tank and it was a little off so I added this and that till it tested right. Po still wouldn't eat the new food but he seemed much happier, still off but happier. As the night wore on I realized he was exhibiting signs of, get this, constipation. Really, Bettas get constipated. The research I did said to fast him and then feed him peas to get things, uh, moving. Well he hadn't eaten for a day so I tried the pea.....he wouldn't even nibble it. I did more research. Apparently I can fast him for like a week and he'll be just fine, then I can try the pea again. If he still doesn't take it I can do this epsom salt thing. Yeah I know, I've gone crazy. (at least as far as this fish is concerned)
Finally it was time to pick Ava up so I walked to her school in the sunshine to get her. After she got home I put on a movie for her and Ethan and I just crashed on the couch. I didn't mean to, but next thing I knew it was 5:45! Since I had overslept and underplanned we had leftovers for dinner. Then I was off to work. I must have been super tired because when I got home from work I went straight to bed and passed out.

Tom has Thursday, and Friday off this week which means he doesn't have to go to work till Sunday night. YAY!! I think we are going to try to catch a Sunday matinee of The Hunger Games :)

A Second Week in My Life; Day 3

Wow.........
So today I had to volunteer at Ava's school by helping out with Spring/class pictures. When the school does pictures like this they allow younger siblings to come in 1/2 hour before school starts and get their pictures taken too. Here was my plan; wake up at 6:30, shower, get myself ready, get the kids ready, and be at the school at 8 am to get Ethan's pic taken then stay and help out.

Here is how my morning went; my alarm did not go off. Yeah so I woke up at 7:30!!!!!! It was amazing that I got the kids both ready let alone got out of my pajamas in time to get to the school. Thankfully the school is only a short little walk away. I spent the morning getting kids in line for pictures and praying I didn't look as grubby as I felt. I hate having to just pull my hair back and throw clothes on :(  At lunch time I decided to stay and have lunch with Ava. The menu said corndog, strawberries, potato wedges, and fruit choice. I figured that couldn't be too horrible right!?! Wrong! Whole wheat, baked corn dogs. I know we as a nation need to eat better but really?!?!?! They were so dry and weird. I get the baking not frying thing but what is so wrong with old fashioned baked corndogs made with actual cornmeal batter?? During lunch Ava's friend made my day. He says to me," You know my mom is bigger than you?"
To which I say, "Well......she is taller than me........"
He shakes his head and says," No she's bigger. She's like 37"
LOL
So I said," Oh, well how old do you think I am?"
The little sweetheart replied," I dunno, like 21 or something."
LOL
That made my day!!
I picked Ava up at school and went grocery shopping. (If you have read my past posts you know how much I love this) I decided to make tacos and Spanish rice for dinner. It was yummy!! After dinner I was off to work.

At work I found out that the other gal I clean with is quitting :( This means finding a replacement for her and this also means I will be stressing about it till we do. grrrrrrrr I made it all the way to dinner when I realized I hadn't taken a single darn picture all day. (another grrrrrrr) I did take a pic of our yummy dinner. ( exciting I know) So I decided to share a couple pics from earlier this month. One is of Ava dressed up for school as her favorite book character; Pinkalicious. There is also one of my nails that I did after finding some inspiration on Pintrest. I did them with China Glaze's Black Diamond. Then I took China Glaze's Techno and just brushed it on the tips. It was super cute!

DINNER :)

Pinkalicious!!

It's a little hard to see with the flash but it was so cute :)

I'm still working on the baby blanket, I have two squares left to crochet. Ava's party is Saturday, yeah I'm stressed about that too.