Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Living/Dining Room Remodels Almost Done (with Photos!)

Ding dong, the nasty pink carpet is dead! Check out our remodeling progress. Or, should I say, Aron McLoughlin and Sons remodeling progress, since they are the ones who rocked this out!

BEFORE, nasty carpet that needed to be cleaned all the time

The view of the "L" from the front door

Aron ripping up the carpet on Friday

This might have been Saturday before he started the tedious sanding proces

AFTER, looking toward the front door

AFTER, looking toward the back of the house
Now the question is: do we want to move after all since the house is looking so nice?

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The Tater Tot Casserole Cookbook Rocks! #PermaFree on #KindleUnlimited


This is the ultimate yummy comfort food. My kids see it's for dinner and are HAPPY! The next morning you can scramble the leftovers in some eggs for breakfast. It's quick and easy and has 5 basic ingredients.

Somehow Jordan, our daughtersitter, and I brainstormed 35 total recipes for tater tot casserole, including BBQ, gluten-free, vegetarian, bacon cheeseburger, fish stick surprise, Italian, pizza and more!

Then I popped in 13 dessert recipes, including Tutu's Chocolate Stars and Grandma Solsberg's Easy Brownies!

If you don't have a Kindle, no problem. I didn't use to have one, either. There's a thing on Amazon called a Cloud Reader where you can download all your cool ebooks and save them to read on your laptop or PC or iPad whenever you want to later! 

This cookbook is always free on Kindle Unlimited ... you pay $9.99 per month to grab up to 10 KU books at a time. You can only get books that authors put on KU, and I am one of those authors! Then I make a little bit of money from a pool of all KU subscription plan buyers (I have a subscription because I find a lot of other great authors on KU as well!) ... when you actually READ THE BOOK! I only make money if  you are checking out the book and flipping through the e-pages!

Here's the link! I hope you enjoy it. As always, if you love it, leave me a review. If you hate it, keep it to yourself (just kidding)!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Minti Kids Fruits and Veggies App by Minti Games (Review)

Omigosh, I have found the cutest app for kids ever! This makes me want to run out and get a smartphone, and I may secretly download this to my dad's smartphone and iPad so the kids can play it when we are at their house. My two youngest would loooooooooooove this, and I have to say I kind of enjoy watching it, as well!

It's called Minti Kids Fruits and Veggies by Minti Games. Kids learn about fruits and veggies, match them up in puzzles, learn about which veggies/fruits go with which seasons, learn the names of the produce, and get stickers when they are right. It's perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, except I know for a fact my older kids would have fun with this, too! Here's a little video of it!

The music I can't get out of my head because it is so stinking cute, and the characters are to die for, and some of them DANCE AROUND. Adorable.

You gotta get this app!

And now some important information about this app:

Let’s Make Little Ones Love Fruits & Vegetables!

Parents know, it is hard to make kids love fruits and especially vegetables. In the decade of hamburger madness, the question is why kids shall interest in distasteful, crusty vegetables or fruits.

Based on this reality, Minti Kids’ first game Minti Kids Fruits & Veggies aims to  make kids love fruits and vegetables by introducing them with fun.

In this game, kids can choose between four seasons and solve 3 pieces of simple mix & match puzzle to discover which fruits & vegetables grow in which season. As kids solve these puzzles, they learn the name of fruits & vegetables as far as the way of their written.

Suitable for ages 3 and up, joyful music, kid-friendly illustrations, English vocalization and lovely fruit and vegetable characters included in the game earn kids love for sure.


Have Fun and Learn!


Minti Kids Fruits & Veggies helps concentration and problem solving skills of kids improve while making them love fruits and vegetables. Also, kids earn free of charge stickers during the play that feeling of success do strengthen their self-esteem.

This game is focused on developing kids’ knowledge, creativity and curiosity while making them have fun. Therefore, there is neither third-party advertising nor in-app purchases inside the game.

Minti Kids Fruits & Veggies can be downloaded from AppStore to be played on both Ipad and Iphone.

About Minti Kids:

We think playing game is one of the best ways to explore the world for little ones. Therefore, we create interactive games that little ones love and their parents trust.  We build our games to develop kid’s knowledge, creativity and curiosity to discover the world. We do it with care and love.

For more information about us:

To Watch the Lovely Fruits & Veggies Trailer:


To Download the game:


Follow us:


Press Contact:



Wednesday, August 21, 2013

8 Kendi Lane in Belton, MO: I Am in Love with a House

This is my dream house. It sits on 10 acres of wooded beautifulness. It is in the middle of a neighborhood so you can be social and your kids can make friends but the neighbors can't see you. There is a park behind it. It's not far from the highway. You can keep horses there. My mom lives close. There is a pond.

It has 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms (who needs that many bathrooms?!). It has a 900-square-foot outbuilding with bath and finished office space.

It has a finished basement with possible 5th bedroom. Did I mention the pond is stocked with fish? It has a front porch with a hammock. I have a lovely sales sheet with many more photos of this place on it and since I've gotten it in my hands I am so in love I am even eating less. Go figure!

My stepdad was out and about scouting houses for his parents and found this one. He grabbed a flier and brought it to me on Sunday. We all fell in love with it.

It is $400,000. Pretty far out of our price range and Mr. Kerrie won't budge because he is fiscally smart and doesn't want to be paying on it until we are 90 years old. Thank God for him because I am impetuous and say things like, "We can make more money! I will keep writing and we will pay it off sooner!"

But I know he is right. And that I don't win arguments like this one. Which is why we are not in debt.

Still.

UPDATE: We found our dream house in Peculiar, MO and moved in end of October 2017 and have been happy ever since!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

How to Write Magazine Articles

Have files of article reprints that you own but have no clue where to start reselling them? Have ideas for some fantastic new pieces but no idea who might want them? Check out my 386-page PDF of tips, tricks, and insider information, as well as 384 paying parenting and family markets! Just head to this page to download How to Get Published (and Paid!) Writing About Your Kids and get started immediately!


Sign up for an email subscription to The Published Parent and get two amazing freebies: 10 Parenting Markets That Pay $100+ and 10 Markets That Pay Writers to Write About Writing! And join my Facebook group called Parenting Magazine Writers ... it's FREE and full of tips and tricks and markets and like-minded writer friends!