Little tips and things you might want to know.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.
If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.



Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.
It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef.
It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of
spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.



To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away

It's National Popcorn Day!

For National Popcorn Day, I thought I would share with you my favorite popcorn recipe. It's called marshmellow popcorn.(Fancy name, huh!)

1 cube butter melted in sauce pan(you can use margarine)
1 bag of small marshmellows(you can use big marshmellow if you want)

Mix together until the marshmellow soften and make a gooey sauce in the pan and then pour over air popped or microwave popcorn. Both are good. The microwave popcorn is more salty and the air pop is fluffier. So it's whatever you prefer, but both work great.

Also before you mix the marshmellow with the popcorn make sure you pulled out all the kernels that didn't pop. It a waste to use the marshmellow on hard kernels you can't eat, so I pull them out. They sink to the bottom making it easier to find them.

Try it! It's easy and the family will love it without a lot of effort.

Okay...so I got a rejection letter.

Hopeful, opthomistic and truthfully maybe a little over zealous, but still what were they thinking. They've met me. Could they not see how articulate, compelling, intellegent and extremly goodlooking I am. Seriously...

Seriously, I got my first rejection letter. I will admit it hurt. Mostly because I had recieved a very positive email saying that I had made it through the first round of reviews and that my book had an appealing voice. Yay! And then they lowered the hammer. When I recieved the next email eight weeks later it was a form letter. I believe, quickly my fingers found the key board and I typed back a request asking for some constuctive feedback. Three days later there was another email in my box with an explanation.

So yes I've been rejected. Its not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. However, I'm actually going to look at this as a positive instead of a negative. Why? Because, I may have been told no, but I learned some very valuable lessons, which hopefully will make the next time I submit easier. And who knows maybe next time I'll get an email saying, "We loved your book, you are one highly talented momma, come join our team and we will pay you millions. Okay, maybe I got carried away at the end, but hey, it could happen...right.

So one rejection and one lesson learned.

Thanks for teaching me.

Take care of you friends.

The other day on the Today Show they posted a study about the kind of friends we need to have to have a healthy and happy life.

1-Childhood Friends. They know the essence of you. They have been there through all the growing pains each and all of us go through. If truth be told, they also are the people who have enough information on to black mail you with most likely. I know mine do.

2-A new friend. New friends bring new experiences and along with those experiences they help us learn and grow, which makes life more interesting.

3-A spiritual friend. When times are tough and things go a ry. It's nice to have someone who believes the same things you do. I find that marrying someone with my same faith has made my marriage stable and has given it a firm foundation on which to raise our children on.

4-A workout friend. I don't have one of these. I have at least twenty in the classes that I teach, but I know for many people they can't do it alone. And let's face it. It’s always funnier to have a buddy to talk to and share with while you sweat.

5-A younger friend. I truly believe in this one. Having a younger friend keeps you younger. They also look at things differently and show you new ways to see life. I think this is very important.

6-Make your partners best friend yours. This is hard for some. I've heard plenty of women complain about their husbands friends. I can't relate. My husband’s friends have always been my friends. In fact I share with them as much as I do my own girlfriends.

So I asked myself do I have the kind of friends I need and want. And now I’m asking you. Do you have the kinds of friends who enrich your life, make it easier, not harder, are they there when you need them and do they make you feel valuable? I truly hope so. I have some of the best friends on the planet. There has not been a time in my life when they would not have willingly been there for me and helped me in any way they could. Friends make life easier.