Texas Tuesday-5 Historical Facts about Texas

Texas Independence Day was yesterday.  Since Texas Monday doesn't have the same ring, I decided to wait until today to talk about the lone star state.  Texas is an amazing state...but I am slightly biased.  There's a reason our flag can fly at the same height as the U.S. Flag... we are that awesome...again, very biased.  From our southern hospitality to our charming Texas twang to the mouth-watering food, you gotta love Texas.  Why write a blog about Texas?  The question is more like "Why NOT write a blog about Texas?!"

Today's Texas Tuesday has 5 great facts about our "fantabulous" state.

1.  In Galveston, Texas, it is illegal to have a camel run loose on the beach.

So if you would like a romantic camel ride on the beach, make sure to tie it to post when you're done.  

2.  Oscar, the Academy Award statuette, was named for Texan Oscar Pierce, whose niece worked in Hollywood for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. When she saw the gold statuette, she reportedly said, “Why, that looks just like my Uncle Oscar."

3.  Texas’ nickname is the “Lone Star State” as a reminder of its struggle for independence from Mexico and to represent Texas as an independent republic.

4.  A $60 million treasure of gold plundered by Coronado is believed to be buried on an 80-acre pasture at the Sems Ranch near Clyde, Texas.  Treasure hunt anyone?!  I have a metal detector!

5.  After the popularity of the song “Luckenbach, Texas,” so many road signs were stolen that the government stopped making them.  

I found all of these very interesting!  Especially the camel one.  You can find these plus many more at http://facts.randomhistory.com/texas-facts.html

               

Hugs y'all!

Melissa

The Lone Star Ginger

  

Wonder Woman Wednesday-Oh Snap! What's for Dinner?!

If you are new to the blog, Wonder Woman Wednesday is all about building you up.  It's midweek, I've "screwed up" countless times, forgotten something important, etc.  Whatever it was has messed up my week and I am bummed.  (Insert the Wonder Woman Wednesday blog!!)  Once I start writing this particular blog, I immediately start to feel better and realize the mistakes weren't that big of a deal.  For this blog I will change up the dynamics a little.  I will start to feature real life Wonder Women, organizing tips (that I have ACTUALLY tried), quick recipes (that I have ACTUALLY tried) and motivational "stuff" to get you through the week.

So for this week, I thought I would give you my tried and true tips for organizing a meal plan.  Don't you hate it when you get home late, and you are scrambling to make dinner from apple pie filling and a can of green beans? (Completely hypothetical!)  With school starting back up, most of us are going to be running on fumes by mid-September.  Kids' activities, homework, housework, work, etc all get in the way of you making a fabulous meal for your family at least 5 nights a week.  Last January, I decided I was going to make a meal plan for the entire month!  I found that my grocery bill was cheaper (on average $50 cheaper a week!) and my stress level was decreased.  Now before you start with the excuses of why you can't prepare a month's worth of meals, let me stop you.  Yes you can!  I have a husband, 2 kids in sports and run two small businesses so if I can do it, so can you.  Take one Fri or Saturday night, sit down with all your family's favorite recipes, your calender for the month (with the extra activities on it... ie, games, practices, etc), your Pinterest board of recipes and a piece of notebook paper.  Number your paper 1-31 (or however many days are in the month) and just start writing dinner plans on each line.  If you won't be home one night for dinner because of Johnny's football game, write "EAT OUT" or something like that.  I think my first meal plan took me around 45 minutes to plan.  The months after that were around 30 minutes or less.  Now that you have a meal plan, create a notebook with ALL those recipes in there. (SIDE NOTE:  I made my sister one for her birthday that was categorized: chicken, meat. pasta, sides, desserts...)  That way you have one spot to gather all your ingredients for the grocery list. I usually grocery shop on Fridays so I make sure to sit down Thursday night and make my list.  I get out my handy dandy recipe notebook with my month's meal plan and write out my list.  I double check the pantry and fridge to make sure I don't buy too many duplicates.  I pull out coupons that go with items on the list.  I also make a note beside the item on my list that I have a coupon for it.

Here was my March meal plan.  As you can see there are scratch out marks from changes that were made through the month.  If I try out a new recipe and we DO NOT like it, I scratch it off and it never comes back!  I try to keep easy quick meals during the week and more labor intensive ones on the weekends.  So there you have it!  How to prepare your meal plan for the entire month!!  You eat out less, less impulse buy at the grocery store and your family is healthier!!  Hope this helps you out as the kids start back to school and the schedules get busier!

Hugs y'all!

LSG

Texas Tuesday in a Small Town

This Texas Tuesday is brought to you by the small, quaint little town of Grand Saline, Texas.  As with most small towns in Texas, there is not much to it but it makes for a fun and low maintenance day trip.  We took the kids there during spring break this past March.  I wanted to go to the Pink Pistol in Lindale, the hubs wanted to check out a food joint (in the middle of nowhere) so we needed something fun for the kids.  We found it in Grand Saline!  Our first stop of the morning was East Texas Gator Farm.  The kids loved it!!  It is on a small farm off of FM 1255 so don't expect a "big hooplah" in the middle of town.  The best part is you won't go broke getting in!  I think it was around $20 for all 4 of us.  You enter in the gift shop which turns into a hands on exhibit.  There were several handlers allowing the visitors to touch and hold the animals.

(Check out Chief with some sort of horned toad looking creature)

Ok, so you've seen a cute kid and a creepy lizard; let's get to the real reason we went!  GATORS!!!

Yeah, they had big ones.  Since we went during spring break, it was still a little chilly that morning.  All the gators were out sunbathing.  Very cool!  There were also several other animals to look at like tortoises, lemurs and (yuck!) a llama or two.  We had pictures of the kids with those animals too but I did not feel like bogging the blog down with photos of my adorable kids!

A small thing you may or may not know about me...I enjoy the history of small towns...no matter how lame it might be.  Did you know Grand Saline sits on a huge lode of natural salt? So much salt that Morton Salt sits up shop there!  They even have a salt palace in town!   No it's not an actual palace but it is a neat little museum (free of charge but they accept donations) with sweet little elderly women eager to tell you the history of the salt mines.  The building is made of actual salt (with a sign that says do not lick the walls).  And yes, these two clowns licked the wall!  Apparently, there is Facebook page for the salt wall lickers but I have not gone looking for it!

Kiddos sitting with a GIANT chunk of salt!

While you are in town, you cannot miss out on a trip to Nutty's.  It sits right now from the salt palace in downtown.  If you want awesome (not just good) peanut butter, check this place out!!  I will drive 45 minutes and pay $8 a jar for their peanut butter.  It comes in many different flavors but my favorite is the chocolate marble.  We first visited this place back in November during a basketball tournament weekend.  The hubs and I knew we had to make a stop when we went back through in March.

Now that I have given you a little rundown of what fun there is to have, get off the computer, pack up the kids and go!!

Hugs y'all!

LSG

Wonder Woman Wednesday-Yea, my house smells that good!

Wonder Woman Wednesdays are all about being even more amazing than you are.  I tend to get in my own little routine, and begin to struggle with balance and think, "How does Sally make it look so easy?!!  Gosh, I hate her for that!;)  This is the place Wonder Woman Wednesday stims from!  We are all have our own little struggle with balance.  It's important to know we are not all alone on our little woman island!  House chores unfortunately fall in the struggle of balance.  Do I take advantage of going to bed at an early time or clean the fridge?  You sit down after a long day of work only to look up and see cobwebs have formed on the living room ceiling...do you get the vacuum out or not?

Today's blog is about getting on a deep cleaning schedule.  When I first started this blog in April, I wrote about our family weekly cleaning schedule.  So you may have looked at that schedule and said, "When does her fridge get cleaned?  EWWW!"  It's on  my deep cleaning schedule.  I put this into place back in January but with the kids' sports, I did not get to stay on top of it as well.  But it is perfect because you can pick a weekend each month and get it all done!!  This is where I should add a picture or the actual schedule...so cue the Pinterest meltdown and the computer issues!!  I can add a picture of what January and February look like... it is the same for July and August.  

Basically each month, a room gets a top to bottom cleaning!  Ceiling fans get dusted, blinds dusted, furniture moved and vacuumed, windows get washed (in the warm months), and whatever else can be cleaned!  This does not take as long IF the weekly schedule has been kept up with.  You sit down that Sunday evening WITHOUT seeing cobwebs on your ceiling!!

Hugs ya'll,
LSG

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Welcome to the first Wonder Woman Wednesday featuring a real life Wonder Woman!!  A couple of times a month, I will feature an amazing woman ( not just moms; any WOMAN).  To start off July, I thought I would invite Melanie to feature.  She is pretty amazing!  Melanie included some great tips to keep you amazing! She has included links to her adorable blogs that are always full of great ideas!!  Be sure to check them out.

It is important to note that I do not invite these amazing women to guest blog to put the rest of us to shame.  I know for one that when I get on Pinterest and Facebook, I feel like a terrible mom, wife, woman, etc because I don't compare to "THAT MOM."  It is important for us all to see that "the struggle is real..."  Most of us struggle with a healthy balance with all the things we juggle. The WW Wednesday is meant to unite us, provide a little humor and empower you to take on the world!!  Enjoy!!

Hey, y’all! I am so excited that Melissa had asked me to do a guest post! She is one amazing lady, so I feel like it is an honor!! I mean… she is a speech pathologist, runs a fabulous boutique, is a blogger, and is pretty stinkin’ cute!!!! So thanks, Melissa!!

I guess I will start off by introducing myself. My name is Melanie. I am a 31 year old follower of God, wife, and mommy to a 6 year old and a 4 year old (who is going on 16). I am also a middle school counselor which I love and a have a personal blog (www.whatshappeningintheackerfamily.blogspot.com) and a professional blog (www.stylishschoolcounselor.blogspot.com). I am a lover of fashion, addicted to Starbucks, obsessed with anything from the 50’s, New York City, Or Paris, and I love spending time with my sweet family and friends.

 

I never realized how much of a balancing act it would be to be a working mom and wife. I am a busy person by nature. I love being involved and always moving yet even with that outlook, there are days that are so tough….days I forget things, days I feel like a hot mess, and days that I feel like I am going crazy. Through the past 8 years, I have learned some basic truths in my life that are musts. I still struggle with doing them each day but they make each day a little easier.

 

#1 Take time for you

As a counselor, this is something we remind people to do yet we have a hard time remembering to do ourselves. For me, taking time for me may be a quick drive to Starbucks listening to my favorite Spotify playlist or going to get a pedicure. A lot of times it may be reading my bible or reflecting on the day with a cup of hot tea. This brings me to the next thing that helps me balance it all…

#2 Make sure you have support

I couldn’t find success in anything if it weren’t for my husband. He watched Grayson as a baby when I was in grad school until 10 p.m. He helped every step of the way with the kids. He makes dinner when I have to stay late for something. He is there to talk things through with me and help me make decisions. He is my best friend and without his support, this gig would be rough. Whether it’s a husband, best friend, family member, or boyfriend…having a reliable, trustworthy support system is so important.

 

#3 Be a planner and stay organized

The only way I can half way juggle this crazy, blessed life of mine is with a whole lot of planning and to do lists. I can count 3 to do lists I have going right now. Whether it is something thekids need, a reminder to make an appointment, something Joey needs me to do, or an idea for blogging…I jot it down. I also write everything down and my hubby and I try to go over upcoming stuff at the beginning of the week so we know what we have coming.

 

#4 Have fun and stay positive!

This is one of the things I have to remind myself of. Life is not perfect and I will make mistakes. I have to realize that there will be crazy times and tough times. Will I totally get grumpy and do an ugly cry? Yes. But knowing that I am not guaranteed the next day and I have to enjoy each day as it comes and the blessings I have been given. We can spend our days worrying, upset over mistakes, or we can learn from it and have an optimistic outlook!

 

I am so glad I had a chance to get to share what helps me as a working momma. Now is there a laundry room full of clothes that need to be put away? Yes. But I think I will choose my battles. Cuddles with the kids over laundry wins every time!