Chili is one of my favorite dishes to make in the winter. I love adding lots of tasty ingredients and letting it cook all day long in the slow cooker. However, sometimes when I have cravings for chili it is too late in the day to get it started. Instead, I make this chili hash brown dish. It also great for chili leftovers. This easy dish is to perfect for a hectic (or lazy) day. Even better: It is budget friendly with only five ingredients that cost less than $10.
We have been working hard to get my two year old potty trained. He has been doing pretty good at telling me when he has to go potty and making it to the restroom in time. In the mornings, he asks to wear his race car Pull-Ups (since they have McQueen on them) so I know he wants to keep up the good work and keep trying. I would say that overall, it has been a success. I would not say that we are 100% done yet, but it is worth being happy about and I know it is in the near future. To celebrate the potty training milestone, I hosted a Pull-Up’s ‘First Flush’ party with six of our friends and their toddlers that are currently potty training or about to start. There is no better way for a kid to feel good about potty training than a party!
When it comes to giving gifts to loved ones, I always try to come up with something that is personal and has a meaning behind it or something that can be emotional connected with. Anything can make a great gift with a little thought and personal touch. I know a lot of people who like to give (and receive) jewelry for their Anniversary or Valentine’s Day. Picking out the perfect piece can sometimes be a challenge and other times the recipient knows exactly what they want (like me). I have wanted an infinity ring ever since my husband and I got married and I finally found the perfect one(s) on Jewlr.com.
Monday, we had an unusually warm day. It was 74 degrees outside (the record high was 76). The kids were excited to play outside in the afternoon since it has been so cold. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long and today is in the 30s and snowing.
With three kids that are always growing, I love finding bargains and great sales on clothing. When I am at local shopping centers, I spend hours digging through unorganized clearance racks for cloths. When I find something I like, I spend just as much time trying to find the correct size. Yes, I can find a great deal, but sometimes I think it’s not worth the hassle, especially with three kids in tow. To eliminate most of the stress and save time, I try to shop online as much as possible. I recently discovered my new favorite online store for all my kids’ clothing needs: Cookie’s Kids.
A few times a week, when my husband would come home from work, he would complain about his feet. It was pretty obvious his shoes were the problem. He is on his feet a good portion of the day, running around the office, in the warehouse and on the loading docks. So it would take some great support and a good quality shoe to eliminate his problem. I knew what we had to do. We had to get a new pair of shoes. He was sick of being in pain and I was sick of hearing him complain about it (I mean that in the nicest way possible). Just in time, I was introduced to ShoesForCrews.com and knew it was the place to shop for his shoes.
Some things never change. In my house, one of those things happen to be our typical thermostat disagreement. It never fails, the issue comes up at least once a week. I am always cold. My husband is always hot. I am always bundled under blankets and he is sweating without any covers. Last Sunday evening, as I went to turn the temperature up a notch after we put the kids to bed (my son’s room was cold), my husband started talking about how hot he was and blah blah blah . Well, that’s all I heard while I was thinking, Here we go again…
Why does it go that way? Lately, I have the thermostat set on 73 during the day and turn it up to 74-75 after the kids go to bed. I do this for the sake of my kids. All the bedrooms are upstairs and they are colder than the rest of the house. My three year old’s room is always the coldest. Anyway, Sunday after turning it up, my husband started his spiel about how most people keep the thermostat set at 68. I told him he was making that up so I would turn it down. He told me to ‘Google’ it (his normal way of settling a debate). So I did. The most information I found was that 68 was the best temperate to save money and energy or something. That wasn’t enough for me so I turned to my trusted Facebook fans.
I asked what people set their thermostats at during winter nights (see the thread here). I didn’t expect much of a response, but my fans came through (THANKS! YOU ROCK!!) I had over 350 responses and it seems we are not the only couple to disagree about thermostat settings. I decided to go through and read each comment (which I always do because I love my fans) and record each answer. I got some great tips and advice mixed with the temperatures, which was awesome! Now, before checking out my fancy pie chart I made, you must remember these are not scientific statistics! They were spontaneously gathered to settle an argument and many contributing factors are not accounted for (I.E. temperature outside, ages of household members).
Well, there you have it… My husband won. Thank you Facebook fans for letting him win his one argument for the month ;) 88 people said that they keep theirs set at 68. Some of which said they always have it set on 68. I was at the high-end for sure at 74-75.
Did anything result out of this? Slightly. Not that I am going to start freezing my rear off, but the numbers did make me notice I do keep it a little warm in here. So the next day I left it on 72 all day and night. I survived and so did my little ones. Then Tuesday I turned it down to 71. I was a little chilly, but once I put on a hoodie, I was fine and we made it through the day and night. But, it has be on 71 since then. I haven’t brought myself to go lower yet. But I think 75 to 71 is decent change. We will see what the new week brings!