I have potty trained my youngest!!! Thank GAWD thats over!!!!

This is a major milestone for me.

My youngest and LAST child is potty trained!!!

For those of you with children you know what that means and for those of you without them- imagine the joy of not having to deal with doo doo anymore. Not having to smell somebody elses funk is like heaven, even if that someone is your own child.

I have been changing dookie diapers for almost 8 years strait and God knows I have been tired of it.

Now its time for me to congratulate myself by donating the leftover diapers to charity.

"I love you so much Mom!"

I was laying on the couch dozing off, when my two year old crawled up on me and hugged my neck and said to me, "I love you so much Mom!"

I was like, AAAAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!

My heart melted.

It made me feel all warm and tingly inside to hear her say that.

It makes all the hardships of parenting worthwhile when you get such sweet rewards as that!

Sweet Georgia Brown by Cheryl Robinson

I read this book a week or so ago and it was......ok at best.

The synopsis of this book is about a woman who stands by her man, who wants to go into stand up comedy. They start out dirt poor and living with his parents along with their 2 boys. I dont want to give the story away if you decide to read it but the story line was just too predictable and for some reason I didnt like the main character even though she was a lovable person. I saw her as a weak woman.

I always make it a point to read 50 pages into a book and if its ok keep going, but if its boring me to tears I put it down.

The beginning was pretty good, but as it went along the story went down hill. It has over 300 pages in it but by page 150 I was already not feeling it. Since I had already invested that much in the book I made myself finish it. I would not suggest this book to anyone. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

This is how NOT to decorate!!!

Now, dont get me wrong. I'm not claiming to be some kind of decorating guru, but since when has it become vogue to decorate your yard with TRASH BAGS??? I mean, I know the economy is bad and times are ruff, but TRASH BAGS???? Is this the best we can do?

I dont celebrate Christmas but I do love to look at all the beautiful lights and see how people put together decorations around the house and yard. But this is not a pleasant sight to behold when I sit on my front porch. I HATE to see what the inside of this place looks like.

They probably use toilet bowl sticks as decorations or even plungers to add that extra UMPH to the dining room decor.

Braidout with Vaseline = GREAT HAIR!!!

Chicken Pot Pie

Well not exactly because instead of using chicken I used turkey necks because it was thawed out already and it had to be cooked.

Season your meat and cook it in a pot of water until done. I added onions to mine.

After this was almost done I added carrots, corn, and string beans to it and let it cook some more.I drained off the veggies and meat and made gravy by putting 3 table spoons of flour into cool water and stirring up and then pouring it into the liquid part remaining from cooking the meat and veggies.

So after the gravy was made, all I did was add it to the veggies/meat to make the filling for the pie.

Most people use store bought crusts for their pies but since I had some crusts that I made myself I used those instead. Here they are still frozen:

After they thawed out I had to roll them out and form the crusts in my pie dish.

I dont know why I shaped the bottom layer. Habit I guess.

Now fill up the pie with the filling and cover with the second pie crust.

I cut slits in the crust so it can vent. I put it in the oven and cooked for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. The fam loved it!!!!!!

Missing My Natural Hair

Today I am missing my nappy hair days.

I want to be able to pull my hair back and see all those waves so I think I will wash my hair and do a braid out. I'll pull my hair back into a ponytail and fluff it a bit to get that fro-ish look. This is a pic of my natural hair pulled back in a bun.

Maybe a braid out will mimic the good ole days!!!

Daddy's Little Girl

My husband wears suits a lot and tonight when he came home my daughter decided to just put on his clothes.

It was so cute!!!

How to make an herbal tincture

"What is a Tincture?
A tincture is a solution of herbs in alcohol. Apple cider vinegar may be used in some special preparations. The alcohol dissolves all of the chemical principals of the plant and acts as a preservative for future use."
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Is-A-Tincture?&id=243706

I have been making these for over a year and let me tell you, it has replaced all commercial medicines in my house. My family rarely gets sick but when things do come up I pull out my ready made tincture and dole it out and in less than 12 hrs all complaints are usually gone.

You can get tinctures at health food stores but you usually will end up paying $15 for about 2 or 4 oz. Its much cheaper to make your own. Its very simple to make actually. Heres what to do.

I used Burdock Root, Echinachea Root, Chapparral Leaf, Dandelion Root, and Yellow Dock Root in this tincture.

Root herbs are the best to use b/c it contains the most potency. I always use 100 proof vodka. You should see the looks and comments I get when I buy this at the liquor store.

I put my mixtures in Mason jars. Put half water, and half alcohol in the jar. I used 1 1/2 cups alcohol and 1 1/2 cups of water.

Then I put 1/2 cup of each herb in the alcohol/water mixture. Make sure you watch it b/c the dried herbs will swell when it gets wet so make sure you dont run out of room in your jar before you finish adding all your herbs.

Then after everything is added, cap the jar and give it a good shake. Label your jar with the contents and date it. It takes between 4 and 6 weeks before all the properties of each herb is dissolved into the alcohol and water. Every now and then shake it to agitate the herbs in the solution. Store it in a cool, dark place and it'll keep forever!

Last year my baby who was 1 at the time was lethargic and laying around all day long. She laid on the couch and did not move. So I said hmmm... I'll mix her up some of my tincture and see what happens. As God is my witness, after 15 min my child jumped up off the chair and started running around playing and laughing. I have NEVER seen anything like it.

Oh I forgot to mention, if you want to take your tincture without the alcohol in it, all you have to do is pour a small amount of water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, pour in your tincture and let it boil for a min or two. The steam will carry the alcohol out of your tincture but will leave all the good stuff behind. I hate alcohol so I always take mine that way and if you mix it with orange juice you wont even be able to taste anything in your drink!

The Destruction Of Black Wall Street in 1921

I never even knew there was any such thing as a Black Wall Street in the 1920's.

Its such a shame this type of info is kept on the hush, but at the same time this is the kind of thing white america doesnt want black people knowing too much about.

Can you blame them????