Table for EIGHT! Decorate your Holiday table for $40!!

Our Women's Ministry is called King's Daughters and for our Luncheon we paired in groups to decorate the tables. Each group decorated each table to seat 8 guests and we were to invite other women to the luncheon. My BFF/Cousin and I are on a budget so we knew we wanted something Chic, Classy, Trendy and AFFORDABLE. My cousin Paypal'd me her half and I went shopping. Even though its Fall season I didn't want Orange Earth tones. I wanted Classic with a Pop of Color. I went to Hobby Lobby first to see if I could find a few statement pieces on Clearance. 

I went from aisle to aisle looking for a color scheme. Thats when these black/white Chevron print disposable plates stood out at me.  They would take a nice chunk of the budget but I had to have them...

I picked up a black plastic table cloth but I put it back when I seen this gold table cloth. 

I found these pretty gold, turquoise, brown plastic peacock thingy's to go in the centerpiece. Its hard to see in this picture the leopard flower and gold/copper seeds/beads on the other side.

I also bought silver/gold plasticware and gold ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

Right next door was Dollar Tree so I found the black disposable plates, cups and bowls. I stacked the plates/bowls to look like place settings. I sooo need an etiquette class so I will know which order the spoon/forks and knives go. Something was still missing so we added the turquoise napkins to pull the color from the centerpiece. The vase/blue marbles came from Dollar Tree also.

My Bestie looking pretty waiting for the festivities to begin. We were so proud of our little table. We didn't have fine china and real silver like some of the other tables but it was a wonderful event. Its great when women can come together and have a grand time!!  

The picture doesn't do the decor any justice! 

These are a few of the other tables...The ladies did their thang and the food was awesome.

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I'm inspired to entertain more guests at home and I'm really excited about decorating for the Holidays!! It doesn't take a lot of money to host and be creative.

Color Your Natural Hair with Kool-Aid!!

My teen daughter and I were having our usual random girl talk sessions about me when I was her age. Somehow I mentioned coloring my hair with Kool-Aid because I was too broke to afford store bought hair color. My daughter was extremely interested and asked me how I did it. When I was being plucked dry for all the deets I didn't realize my daughter had a master plan brewing. LOL! She brought me all the items needed and asked if I would help her . I was hesistant to allow her to color her hair red so I told her that I thought red was too grown up looking for her age.. Her reply was, "Mom, didn't you say you were 15 like me when you tried it?" LOL! HA! She cornered me, I agreed to only a few streaks so we decided to wait for the weekend to try it.

What we used:

1 pkg of Tropical Punch Kool-Aid
1 squeeze of conditioner

We decided to color only the highlights she already had.

One nice squeeze of conditioner...any kind would work

1 pkg of Tropical Punch Kool Aid. I would use 4-5 pkgs for the whole head. Maybe more depending upon the length of the hair.

Pour Kool Aid into the Conditioner

Stir until you have a paste

Kool-Aid/Conditioner Paste

I sectioned off the colored area and tied a baggie around it to keep it from getting on the other hair... Not necessary, just a preference.

I added a Co-Wash to the other hair and put a shower cap over her hair for 3 hours. 

She rinsed it out and now had red streaks... She's happy so I'm happy. :-)

Its a semi-permanent rinse because the color looses intensity with each shampoo.

Brings back memories of my Kool-Aid hair days! LOL!

Dinner is Served!

I love to cook...I take pics of dishes I prepare but I never know what to do with the pics. So basically they are just taking up space on my phone. Rarely do I use recipes. I am a self proclaimed "pinch of this and that" type of cook. These are a few family favorite dinners.

Salmon, baked sweet potato and cucumber salad

Salmon on a baby spinach salad

Lentils and spinach w/smoked turkey

Shrimp & Grits 

Spinach stuffed chicken breast wrapped in bacon served over Quinoa

My sous chef, my baby boy helps me in the kitchen. Well, I let him play with whatever to keep quiet while I cook... lol

My husband fried catfish, mac & cheese and brussel sprouts

Seafood Gumbo

Cheese Grits

Chicken Pot Pie

Fried chicken wings, spanish rice and steamed brocolli

Lasagna

Tilapia and mix veg

Chicken Fried Rice

Oxtails, pinto beans and rice, spinach and cornbread

Hubby caught the fish and I fried it up!

Roast, spinach, yellow rice, yams

Tortilla Soup

My daughters making cookies on Mothers Day

Potato soup

Curry Salmon/ Brussels

Mexican, black bean enchilada bake

Beef Stew

Baked wings, mash potatoes, spinach, corn/brocolli

Steak/potato soup

Baked Chicken, rice, spinach, brown gravy/onions 

Green Smoothies

Catfish for parents (too many bones)/ Chicken for kids, mac & cheese, normandy blend veg

Catfish, rice, black eyed peas, veg

Apple Cider

Chicken strips

Chicken strips, mac, , brocolli

Salmon, brussells, cabbage w/peppers

THATS ALL FOLKS....for now *wink*

Oh No! Torticollis????

Oh No!! Torticollis??? 

That was basically my reaction when I diagnosed my son based on his symptoms....

This is my story.

My Aunt called me and suggested that I do range of motion excercises with my brand new baby because she said he appeared to "favor his left side". I had no clue what that meant so I went straight to Google to see what it meant for a baby to favor one side over another.  

I clicked on one website after another getting more and more overwhelmed by the second. My baby was perfect. He was a newborn so I assumed all newborns had wobbly necks so I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. One website said babies can develop Torticollis by abnormal positioning in the womb. That's when it hit me, my baby twisted himself around at 38 weeks in the Transverse position. Transverse lie is when the baby is lying across your tummy We tried everything to get him to turn head down but nothing worked. My doctor suggested that we do an emergency C-Section because he was begininng to show signs of distress.

Fast forward to month 1... My baby hated tummy time. He'd cry after a minute of being on his tummy so I wouldn't do it as often as I should have because he hated it. I didn't really understand how important it was for strengthing the neck muscles at the time.

One of the rare occasions when he wouldn't cry during tummy time.

As he got older it became more obvious that he did have a mild case of torticollis.

 During his doctor visit I explained to his pediatritian that I was concerned. she insisted that he was okay and  tried to persuade me to just continue tummy time and everything would be fine. As soon as I got home I called her office and pretty much demanded that she write a "script" referral over to a physical therapist for my son.

After the initial assessment it was concluded that my baby indeed had a mild form of Torticollis. 

Signs & Symptoms

Babies with torticollis will act like most other babies except when it comes to activities that involve turning. A baby with torticollis might:

• tilt the head in one direction (this can be difficult to see in very young infants)
• prefer looking at you over one shoulder instead of turning to follow you with his or her eyes
• if breastfed, have difficulty breastfeeding on one side (or prefers one breast only)
• work hard to turn toward you and get frustrated when unable turn his or her head completely

Source

How is it treated?

Your child's doctor may refer you to a physical therapist or an orthopedic surgeon (bone and joint doctor).

Congenital muscular torticollis is typically treated with stretching and positioning. You'll need to perform these exercises on your baby several times a day. The moves aren't complicated, but make sure you understand them and are comfortable doing them before you leave the doctor's or physical therapist's office.

If your baby has muscular torticollis, you'll want to provide as many opportunities as possible for her to turn her head to the side that she normally doesn't turn to. If she has trouble turning her head to the right, for example, you could lay her on the changing table so you're standing at her right side. And position her in the crib so she has to look to her right to see anyone approaching her.

It's also important to give your baby plenty of time on her tummy when she's awake, to help develop the muscles in her neck.

Source

My baby had the best Physical Therapists ever. They specialized in children so they had toys and balls to distract the children. They taught my husband techniques to use at home. I am so grateful he had a mild case that only required one month of treatment twice a week.

They fell in love with my baby and even used a few pictures of him on their website. He made a 100% full recovery. It was a good thing he was treated early while his bones were still "soft".

My little guy is 17 months and thriving. He's walking, running, climbing and getting into everything! lol! I felt the need to share my story because I believe we go through things in order to help someone else in the future. I pray that this post is a Blessing to someone else going through the same thing. 

My sweetie pie!!! 

He's the III so we call him "Third"

This video has great tips and info!