Friday, January 8, 2010

Crazy Penny Auction Site!

I found an absolutely awesome auction website. I've won 31 items so far, including 2 bid packs which paid for the other auctions, plus $100 Apple Gift Card, $25 Starbucks gift card, a Monopoly Game, a Digital Camera, LEGOS(the boys are extremely happy) and a slew of other things. There is a limit to 4 items won per 7 day period so everyone gets their fair shake. Right now, I'm eyeballing that espresso machine and that WII. Sign up now and get a free bid to get you started!

Crazy Penny Auction Site!

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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Sticky Cinnamon Buns(almost homemade)


These look yummy. This is the weekly recipe from VegCooking.com. If you are Vegan, make sure your biscuits and other ingredients are as well.


Sticky Cinnamon Buns

Semi-homemade cinnamon buns are just as delicious as those made from scratch but only take a fraction of the time!

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. cinnamon
3 cans refrigerated biscuits
1/2 cup nondairy margarine, melted
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2-3 tsp. soy milk or liquid nondairy creamer

* Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Oil a 12-cup cupcake pan and set aside.
* Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a container with a lid. Cut each biscuit into four pieces. Place a few of the pieces at a time into the container with the sugar and cinnamon, put on the lid, and shake until the pieces are coated. When all the pieces have been coated, place in the cupcake pan, filling each cup to the top edge.
* Combine the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture with the margarine and spread a spoonful on each bun.
* Bake at 350ºF for 10 minutes, or until slightly browned. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for several minutes, then carefully remove from the pan and set on a plate.
* In a small bowl—or ideally, a liquid measuring cup with a spout—mix the confectioners’ sugar with the soy milk or nondairy creamer, adding just enough liquid to allow the mixture to pour. Drizzle a generous amount of the glaze over each bun. Serve immediately, allow to set for 10 minutes, or cover with plastic wrap and serve within a day.

Makes 12 buns

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Earthlings Video

For those who haven't seen it, it's a New Year. You owe it to your fellow earthlings to watch this.

Becoming Vegan

People go Vegan for many different reasons. My reason is because I watched a movie that set me straight. If I happen to have a moment of weakness where I even consider it, that sad little eye of one of the cows that they were butchering in the movie comes popping back into my mind's eye and it makes my heart hurt. She was still alive, still feeling, still a being. Since I started my trip to Vegetarianism and on my way to Veganism, I have come across these other reasons:

1. I feel better.
2. I'm sleeping better. I have always suffered from insomnia, more so since my house got broken into a few years back with myself and the babies sleeping inside. Now, when I sleep, it is less fitful and I find it's a more quality sleep.
3. My craving for chocolate has pretty much, well, gone away. I still get the munchies when I'm bored, but I don't HAVE to have chocolate like I did before. In fact, my cravings for sweets in general have pretty much subsided.
4. I'm a lot more "regular". Since hubby has gone Vegetarian, he has stopped suffering from as many of the digestive issues he had.
5. I have more energy. You often hear people say that you are lacking in this vitamin or that nutrient and, these naysayers are often part of a bigger plot to keep people killing animals.
6. I get to experiment with our meals on a daily basis. I have always loved finding and trying new recipes and there are some awesome ones out there.
7. I have more respect for myself. I am doing something good for the planet, for our animal friends, my family, and myself.

My mother has been having a lot of issues with high cholesterol lately. I'm hoping that I can get her on the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart. I want to prove a point to her. She knows what her cholesterol was a couple weeks ago. I want her to at least make some better food choices and then go back to her doctor and see her results. I think she, and he, would be surprised. By just making a few substitions, it would have such a dramatic effect! I want my mother around for awhile(like forever) and, if I can help her, I will.

I read an interesting blog post earlier today about how to start your Vegan Adventure. You can read the full post HERE. This is the first part of it:

1. Watch the movies The Witness and Earthlings for free online right now. Then tell your friends. You can even send them an invitation for the first movie.

2. Read the book Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won’t Eat Meat.

3. Replace dairy milk with soymilk, rice milk, almond milk, oat milk, multigrain milk, and hemp milk. Unless you’re a baby cow, you don’t need cow’s milk. Did you know dairy products can cause acne! Think of cow’s milk as “liquid meat.”

4. For a quick sandwich, try Tofurky Deli Slices. Mmmm. All Tofurky choices are 100% vegan. Remember to add two new very tasty vegan foods for each food you no longer eat. Vegan living isn’t about what you can’t eat. It’s about discovering the more than 6000 vegan foods you can eat.

5. Treat yourself to Purely Decadent Ice Cream or Rice Dream Frozen Desserts (especially the Vanilla Pie ice cream sandwich and the Mint Carob Chip ice cream) or Whole Fruit Sorbet.

6. Practice cooking. There are no rules. Be flexible with ingredients. Whatever tastes good to you is a recipe that rocks. To make it easy on yourself, you might begin with a classic cookbook such as Vive le Vegan!

7. Join or start a small vegan group to swap info and share in the fun.

8. Explore fresh organic goodies at your local farmers market. Visit health food stores and Asian supermarkets for the yummiest “mock meat.” Browse all the aisles.

This article has some great "steps". I wouldn't exactly say this is the way to go but it has some great parts. I went vegetarian completely overnight. I'm well on my way to becoming full blown Vegan. I'm taking all those things that I can't live without(see my cheese post) and I'm finding a great substitution(Daiya is the way to go for the cheese, by the way). This year, I will have found a great substitution for everything that I MUST have.

So, now that I have just posted the longest blog post of my life, I am going to go and finish a couple things for work and then I am going to deposit myself on the couch and watch a movie with my family.

I am sure I will be posting again soon.

Till then, Live, Laugh, and Love!

Friday, January 1, 2010

We've Only Just Begun!



Well, today is the day where everyone makes their New Year's resolutions. I am actually going to jump on this bandwagon and post mine on my blog as well. I have several things I want to accomplish this year and, by posting them here, I may be more apt to actually follow through. When it comes to things I want to do for myself, I seriously lack in ambition. I will go to the ends of the earth for my friends, family and clients, but I have a tendency to always put my own wants on the back burner. I think it's a fine time to change that. As a 35 year old mother, wife, and freelancer, I NEED to do some things for myself. I'm feeling a bit selfish at the moment. Everyone around me has what they want and need and I just want to be able to DO a few things. So, here goes.

This is my wishlist; MY New Year's Resolutions for the year....

1)Complete my conversion from Vegetarian to Vegan
2)Drop the last 20 pounds I want to lose(which #1 will help with)
3)Write the book that is in my brain screaming to get out.
4)Enter my sweepstakes on a daily basis. I haven't entered a single sweepstakes in several months up until the last couple days. I realized I seriously missed that.
5)Potty train the baby. She's almost 18 mths old and she is the LAST ONE! I am ready to be diaper free!
6)Post here on my blog at least weekly! I always have so much to ramble about and I never find the time to actually do it. I am going to TAKE the time! I also want to start having a different contest here at least monthly.
7)Continue mastering my Social Media skills. This is in respect to my career. I am great at it now, but I want to be the absolute best!
8)Make it to the top 10 on Elance. I am currently 50 or so out of 16,000+. I want to be in the top 10.
9)Create a website that will cover all the different programs and nonsense that I participate in. Make it a one stop shop for work and free stuff programs the typical stay at home mom can participate in if they want too. None of these "get rich quick" schemes and other crap that people like to put out there. I only deal in legitimacy.
10) I want to get the inside of my house painted, the tile laid, and get my kitchen and bathroom remodeled this year. Whether or not that will happen is still to be seen as this is a major financial expenditure.
11)Help hubby open his dream car lot.
12)Help my 10 year old with her weight issue. This is already a work in progress. She is moving more and already looking better. She just needs to get and stay motivated. #1 and #2 above will help with this as well.
13)Finish the work on my mouth. Top done, now I need to get to work on cleaning up the bottom and get all the work done on them the next couple of months.
14)Create my website for AmysWinningWays Virtual Admin services. I've got a few people who I provide work too each week already and I would like to expand on that.
16)TBD. There are other things that I know I want to do, they have just left my thoughts at the moment so I will fill them in later.

Ok, so as you can see, I have quite the extensive list of things I want to get accomplished in 2010. Let's see how much of it I can get accomplished and, as I remember what it was else that I wanted to add, I can do that as well.

Off to make dinner at the moment as the kids seem to think they will starve to death if dinner is late so will ramble more later.

Till next time, always remember, Live, Laugh, and Love!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

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