finley loves baby cereal

finally ... i have been trying for awhile, but fin has finally decided that she'll eat solid foods!

recipe wendesday - homemade green cleaners

***homemade cleaning recipes (via down to earth)
***natural cleaning recipes (via green living ideas)
how to make a non-toxic cleaning basket (via care2)
non-toxic home cleaning (via earth easy)
non-toxic cleaning recipes (via women an environment)
green cleaning recipes with natural ingredients (via the daily green)
diy houshold cleaners (via the green guide)
do-it-yourself cleaners (via better home & gardens)
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gorgeously green all-purpose spray
ingredients:
32 ounce plastic spray bottle (recycled)
2 cups water
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1 tsp pure castile soap
3/4 cup hydrogren peroxide
20 drops tea tree oil
20 drops lavender or lemongrass essential oil (lavender is lovely for the bathroom and lemongrass for the kitchen)
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simply fill a large 32-ounce plastic spray bottle with the water. add the vinegar, castile soap, hydrogren peroxide, tea tree oil and essential oil.
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suitable for acrylic, ceramic tile, wood, marble and granite.
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green window cleaner spray
ingredients:
3 Tbsp vinegar
1/3 tsp pure liquid vegetable soap (like castile soap)
2 cups water
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pour each ingredient into a recycled spray bottle.
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veggie cleaner spray
ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 Tbsp baking soda
20 drops grapefruit seed extract
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combine all ingredients in a spray bottle with a pump. spray mixture on produce, and rinse thoroughly after 5-10 minutes.

recipe wednesday - chicken broccoli stuffing casserole

ingredients:
1 package (6 oz.) stuffing mix
1 1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of whatever soup
1/3 cup sour cream (or milk if you don't have sour cream ... but it wont be as creamy)
1 bag (16 oz) frozen vegetables (whatever you have, robby prefers broccoli), thawed, drained
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
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directions:
1. preheat overn to 400 degrees.
2. prepare stuffing mix as directed on package, set aside.
3. mix chicekn, soup, sour cream and vegetables in a 13x9 inch baking dish (sprayed with cooking spray for easy clean-up); top with cheese and then prepared stuffing.
4. bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
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if your chicken is already cooked, cook for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
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robby's favorite, and it makes EXCELLENT leftovers
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it needs a better name ... any ideas?
chickchee stuffibroc?
cheechi broccotop?
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it needs something good ... like ...

music downloads

i was chatting with my sister and brother on friday night and somehow the topic turned to music. i asked scott what he thought about the new all-american rejects album, his response "what new album?!" so i headed over to my mom's mac and went to my favorite music download site and played him so clips. he comes over to check it out and then noticed the price of the songs.
and then he got mad that i've never told him or blogged about it before. (in my defense i KNOW i've told him before ... everytime him and his wife talk about downloading from iTunes ... and the link in the sidebar on my blog --- towards the top even). regardless i promised him that i would blog about it.
so check out MP3Search.ru ... only 9 CENTS (and if your purchase the whole album it is further discounted 10%). you can get the WHOLE all-american rejects album, "when the world come down" for only 97 cents ... less than what just ONE song would cost you other places.
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you're welcome ... enjoy!

finley is 7 months

holy moley ... i meant to do an update when she hit her 6 month mark ... and yet another month has flown by.

she's now 26" long and weighs in at 17 pounds ... both of which are in the 75 percentile for her age.

she has finally decided that she likes solid food ... which lets me not stress as much when aidan drops/throws his cheerios on the floor.she gave up nursing at 4 months and prefers bottles ... heated ... it has to be just the way she wants it. oh well. (and she loves to lay on the floor with her feet straight in the air ... pretty much since day 1!)she started rolling over at 4 months (like ... exactly!) ... that day she decided she could do it, both ways, tummy to back and back to tummy ... it hasn't stopped her since. she rolls all over and can rotate 360 degrees ... so if she sees something she wants she'll get to it.
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this morning she decided that rolling around wasn't as productive and has graduated to army crawling around after aidan.

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it's gone by WAY to fast. overall she's a happy baby, an angel straight from heaven. i'm so happy she's joined our family.

have you met [magic] jack?

what? you've never heard of magic jack? ... well i hadn't either ... until i was nursing finley one night and was flipping through infomercials.

we were a cellphone family, until i got a church calling which requires TONS of phone calls and my cell phone gets HORRIBLE reception and drops calls ALL the time (as nicole can attest, it personally despises her). i had been doing research on phone services and was looking into vonage ($9.95 a month for the first 3 months and then $24.99 thereafter) ... and then i stumbled upon magic jack ... it's like $20 per YEAR ($40 for the actual jack and first year of service ... and while checking out will offer you 5 years for a great deal) ... i think like $50 more dollars). yes, you read that correctly, and you can call anywhere in the US and Canada.

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you have to have it plugged into you computer, and you have to be connected to the internet and the program running to receive and make calls ... but we generally have our computer running 24/7 anyways. personally, i LOVE it, and i love it even more since it is a great deal and we wont have to pay another bill for it for 5 more years ...

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i've been meaning to blog about it for AGES [we got it in november?] ... and last week i was talking to nicole (who just moved to utah ... sad for me, great for her) and we were talking about house phones and i mentioned it and had to tell her more. she called me a couple days later ... "i'm talking on my magic jack" she proudly said ... you're gonna want one too!!

my nails

sooo ... my nails were getting long and i figured i better document it before i broke them. of course after i took this picture i ripped 3 the next day!! UGH!!

(they look like i don't know how to trim them straight ... i promise i do ... they just curl when they get long)