A Guy & His Pies

Its that time of year, when I head to the store and pick up a crate of Sweet Potatoe Yams, 10lbs of Butter, Sweet Canned Milk, Eggs, Sugar and a few spices.  Why ? you ask, Well at some point in my husband's life someone told him that his Sweet Potatoes Pies are the BEST. So now every year a couple days before Thanksgiving the crazy pie making commences.  He makes it all from scratch from washing the potatoes to boiling, peeling, mashing and so on.

He is the messiest person in the kitchen known to man. ( I am still finding pie filling 2 weeks later ).  He has an assembly line in the way he does everything.  I help as much as possible but its hard with all the stuff he does and how much of a mess there is. The mess I guess is worth it when I know it gives him so much pleasure in the making of his special pies.

When its all said and done. Pies covering every part of my counters in my kitchen. Kitchen sink overflowing with all supplies that we own for baking.  Him standing at the oven making sure each pie bakes the right amount of time.  He wraps the 25-30 pies and gives them to anyone that says that they like Sweet Potatoe Pie.  If you are someone who has been on the receiving side of one of his magical pies THANK YOU .... Makes him truly happy to make them and GIVE them to people.

This year I got some help in the kitchen afterward.  Such a good baker and cleaner. Hope you all had a Great Thanksgiving. If anyone local next year would like to try the famous pie. Give me a Comment and I will put you on the list...ITs ALL ABOUT THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT!!!

OUR BELLA

When my husband decided to bring home Bella (Our English Bulldog) I have to say I was NOT happy.  I knew nothing about this breed.  Working in the Vet Clinic I never remember one coming in.  The first night she was home with us, I said that she WILL be kenneled trained.  We put the kennel in our bathroom, about an hour into the night she started whining.  I told Dushawn just like a baby you let them cry a while.  There was a potty pad for her and a blanket. She was fine.  NOPE, not even close. Dushawn gets up and I told him I am not helping this was your idea.  HE is GAGGING: she had shit all over the kennel and rolled in it.  Have fun...cleaning her and the kennel. Well, that was the beginning of the end for us. From that night on she has slept in our bed every night

She has been with us for 81/2 years now.  She is truly my baby ( unless Dushawn is around ).  Bella has the best personality. I really never would have thought I would love her as much as I do.  She has allowed the kids to lay on her, dress her up, take her on too long of walks, she loves her baths and showers.  Nothing beats a car ride to go drop the kids off at school or work.  I think in true bulldog style her absolute favorite thing to do is eat and lay in the sun.  She sunbaths at least 20mins a day, thank goodness we live in sunny California.

We have also had our struggles.  Bella is known as my MONEY PIT in our family also.  She was bought at the Mall I know I know  Puppy Mill Puppies.  But as I have learned they need to be bought and  LOVED also.  I did a lot of research when we got Bella, every known problem that English Bulldogs are known to get my baby Bella got it.  The worst was the Entropion or Cherry Eye. We did surgery but nothing really worked so to this day we just clean her eye and try and make them comfortable with drops and creams.  She has deep nose wrinkles that have to be cleaned and kept dry.

Now onto why I am writing this...Bella has developed a bleed in her belly.  We found out about 2 weeks ago. I was told that they could drain her belly but no guarantee that it would fix the problem.  She was also anaemic because of the bleeding. Some days are better than others. She is not in any pain for that I am happy.  To help with her anaemia I have gone to making her dog food. It is high in iron, with fresh vegetables and beef liver. So far I can see a difference in her gum colour has gotten a little pinker.  She is still running around and going to the bathroom.  So I am seeing this as a positive for now.  But also preparing for the worst. Unfortunately!!!

With her not feeling well and turning 9 years old this December, I have been doing a lot of research on what the best food would be for her.  She is anaemic so I had to find something that would boost her iron.  I also believe that making her food the natural way would maybe prolong her life just a little bit longer.

I understand that many people would love to have English Bulldogs. Please do your research and have a money reserve for when something happens.  We have loved our time with her as our baby.  I am hoping she will be with us a little longer but you just never know.  They are known for living 6-10 years.  We have loved our time with her, not sure what we will do once she is gone.  But until that day we are going to give her the best life possible.

If anyone has any sercerts or ideas to help with the bleed or have gone through something like this with one of thier fur babies i would love to hear form you.

Thank you for Reading as always

Honey, I GOT A JOB

Honey, I FOUND a JOB!!!!

I was looking for a couple months, sending out my resume but not really finding anything.  Then one night I find the Amazon listing and decide to apply (just for fun) and to my amazement, they offer me a job right there online.  I learn later that I think most people do get an offer right there which is crazy, but what the heck lets see what happens.  Go do all the normal drug test, paperwork, turn in papers, then they tell you that as soon as all paperwork and drug test are a go you will get an email of when you come in for orientation. Sounds good, so I waited about a week was thinking ok maybe something went wrong....but NO I get the email to show up at my allotted time. You will be there for 10.5 hours for orientation.  My first thought was WHAT THE F**K was I thinking to take a 40hour a week job when I have always worked here and there. I am Crazy thinking I can handle this.  Maybe they will put me at a desk to look at orders or something.  SO THERE I GO!!!!

Out of the house by 6:00am, and headed north.  Got there super fast NO Traffic but expected on a Sunday.  Wanted to get there early to be able to relax before I get in there.  You pull up and this is what you see...

I go in and wait with about 15 people. First thing is we get a badge to get into the building. No badge No entrance also you are not allowed to have your CELL PHONE at all.  They take us to a room and we go through about 100 slides of dos and don'ts. Then we get our job. So to my unknown, this is a large shipping facility.  What does that mean, when you order we ship diapers, cat food, dog food, mini frigs.  So you can pick items or you can pack items.  Drum Roll I GET PACKING.....

OK, so not what I thought I would get but its better than picking and putting boxes in the truck.  That is until I get a cart of 30 bags of 40 LBS of dog food. Let me tell you after the first 5 hours that day I had bruises on my legs, my arms are killing me and I can't even walk to the break room. I just wanted to sit and cry. You need to be fit (ok I admit I am not fit) endurance, and a great pair of shoes.  So you stand for your whole shift just packing up all things from Amazon.  I have seen some cool things come through my line.  I just finished my second week and I am still sore. My feet are a little better, but the bags of dog food is taking a toll on me. HAHA  so for a least the next few weeks you can find me at my new job....

Thank you for listening to me. I know there are many who work a 40 hour a week job without complaining.  But I would take having all the kids little again I think...WELL MAYBE NOT.

Fall Favorite

This is my Families Fall Favorite. (kinda all year)  Pumpkin Bread & Muffins.

I use a basic pumpkin bread  recipe from Fall Baking Better Homes and Garden Magazine 2011

I do put my own spin on the spices to give it that little more taste then what their recipe gives. I will put the recipe below.  Try it out let me know how your turns out. 

Fall Pumpkin Bread with my own twist

1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs 

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon salt 

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground clove

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2/3 cups of water

1 can 15oz can of pumpkin

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease bottom of loaf pan  (this recipe will make 2 loaves)  

2. In a Mixer add granulated sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs together. Till well mixed.

3. Mix in the can of pumpkin.

4. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. 

5. Starting with the dry ingredients, with mixer on low. Start scooping it in. When getting a little thick add a little of the water, then back to the dry flour mixture. until all is mixed together.  

6. Fill your loaf pans and bake for 55 to 60 mins or until knife comes out clean. let cool for 10 mins. If making the muffins, put papers in tin fill 1/2 full. Bake about 12mins or until knife comes out clean.

Hope your family loves them as much as mine does.  You can wrap them for overnight but I never have any left to do that.  Would love to know your Families Favorite Fall Recipe.

Enjoy Jennifer 

Teens & WIFI

So summer has come and gone, and we are two weeks into school.  So back to going to sleep at a decent time, waking up before the sun rises.  One nice thing is I only have one school drop off this year.  So with that said the boys still want to stay up late, as soon as they get home they jump on the games in their rooms.  Had been trying to get them to help around the house. To me, it was just easier to do it instead of waiting for it to get done.  Well, I have learned that is NOT teaching them anything.   I am also one tired mom.  So with that being said we have new house rules, these are our house rules NOT everyone's kids or households work the same.  If you have Ideas I would LOVE to hear them, I love trying different things.



This is what we have implemented, its only been a week and a half and the first 2 days were the WORST of my life.  But we TURNED OFF THE WIFI!!!  That's what I said I know Crazy... but it worked.  So the WiFi gets a new password on Monday.  If their laundry was done and put away over the weekend and their rooms are clean (you can get from one side to the other and not kill yourself) then I put the WIFI on the cell phones ONLY. (so they don't use all the data)




                                                                                 

 I know what you are thinking, they have homework online right. Yes, they do. so I made a computer nook in my hall upstairs it has our big mac on it.  I put the Wifi code in that so they have access to their homework and online stuff but NO games.










So to sum it up, NO Games in their room during the week. Chores are getting done and rooms are staying clean.  I know it's only going into the third week of school. But a mom can dream right.  I will keep you posted on how long it last...they might drive me mad asking for it every 5mins.  Hoping to stay strong.


Thank You,
It's a Mixed Life

Why ? It's A Mixed Up Life

Hello and Welcome To It's A Mixed Up Life


I am Jennifer a Wife, Mom, Aunt, Housekeeper, Cook (sometimes) Personal (Uber driver for our kids), Crafter. An all-around crazy person that is always doing way too much.  My Husband (Dushawn) and I have been married 19 Years and counting. We have two of our own kids Savanna(18) Jordan (15) We have also raised his nephews,  6 of them. One left in the house Terrell (15). So to say the least my life is super MIXED UP and CHANGING all the time.  So Welcome and Enjoy the Ride With Me......



Me & My Love Dushawn



Me, Savanna, Dushawn & Jordan
Savanna's High School Graduation



Jordan(15) Trevon (20) Isaiah (21) Terrell (15)
                   Savanna (18)
All Five Home for the Summer & Del Mar Fair 2018