The Upside

With Squeaker's crazy sleep schedule I'm awake at odd hours and for long periods of time. A lot of times I'm too spaced out to do anything. But there are nights where I'm wide awake listening to Squeaker breathing or just waiting for a freak out of some kind. During that I'm I like to be productive. I'll research different school things, or understanding a diagnosis, this is when a lot of flash cards get made :)

This week is Retro's 14th Birthday and he is having a Minecraft party. He or my mom... not sure who decided that they should play Minecraft Bingo. I don't know if you have ever googled that but it comes up with the online Bingo game, or a Bingo card you can use while playing the regular game. Nothing for a group game. Mom was not excited to make a new game from scratch so I offered to do it. Especially since yesterday was a sick day and I knew I'd be up with Squeaker.

After spending no less than 10hrs on this project I figured I had better share it for several reasons. I want recognition. I'm really proud of this one and it was hard to figure out what to use since I know nothing about the game. So yup I looking for pats on the back. Secondly as the saying goes "If I can't find it online, then it must not exist." Online research is one of my super powers. And if I couldn't find a good Minecraft Bingo game it must not be out. Minecraft parties are growing in popularity and another activity for already stressed moms would appreciated. Bingo is a great activity for parties and play dates, it's simple straight forward and it doesn't take an adult to run it. A child/teen with and understanding of the game and some reading skills can run it. Giving the adults a chance to heaven forbid get something else done :)

It's in two files. The Master Sheets, and Bingo Cards. There are 20 Bingo Cards.
***Please make sure you click on the links to print the cards. Not just the pictures.***
Update 2024 *** The files should be available to view and print when you click on the link. I will not be granting admin access please do not request it. This account is currently no monitored frequently. Every year or so I have to update the security settings sorry if this causes any inconvenience for your party.***

Best Kept Secret

I'd hate to say it but the government (federal and state) has been keeping a really big secret from you. Big surprise, right? Well you maybe surprised to hear that they are keeping affordable children's health care a secret.

It's probably not intentional because they want kids to have affordable health care otherwise the program wouldn't exists, but it's not like they do a whole lot of advertising. We've all heard of Medicaid for poverty level families. There are many people who don't qualify for Medicaid because they make too much. But they either have a job with no benefits or like us can't afford the jump in premium.

As we were preparing for Squeaker's arrival we were looking at the cost of adding her to our insurance plan. Trey's work offers pretty good medical coverage, the only problem with adding Squeaker would take us from an employee+1 plan to a full blown family plan. A premium jump of about $200 a month. Now the family plan covers up to five kids I believe so for having two or more children it's a great premium. For our budget (which still included utilities for the house we hadn't sold yet) we couldn't afford it. I started looking into state and federal aid but we didn't qualify for any of it.

One day Trey was talking to a friend, Scott, at work and explaining our insurance conundrum. Scott jumps in and says, "Apply for All Kids". His daughter was diagnosis with a heart condition shortly after birth and one of the nurses suggested they apply for All Kids so they wouldn't be stuck with horribly large medical bills. They had never heard of the program but of course Scott filled out the paperwork and a year or so later when their daughter needed heart surgery

it cost them $300. Yeah you bet we applied.

For three years All Kids as been our saving grace. When we needed a nebulizer we had one, fully covered. Extensive blood tests covered. X-Rays, CT scans, Ultrasound, Barium Swallows, Ear Tubes placed, teeth removed a small copay. Then of course all the medicines $5 a piece! Even as cost have gone up it is still far cheaper than Trey's work plan.

Every time we think about applying for a management job we look to see how much the cost of living is. Including if the state has a supplement insurance program and it's requirements. Most states only have income requirements, paired with the number in your family. Including unborn children. Some of them though have exceptions for children with high medical needs, or mental
impairments such as autism.

Take a look and see what your state offers.
http://www.insurekidsnow.gov/

Tex Mex Casserole

I've been meaning to post this for a while because it is really good, and reheats REALLY well. The original the original recipe was called Skinny Tex Mex. I'm not sure I agree with that statement since noodles aren't exactly low calories. Most of my adjustments to the recipe came out of what I had in my pantry. That way if I have a whole in my menu plan I can whip this out :)

Ingredients:
1 can 10.75 ounce Campbell's Healthy Request Tomato Soup
1 Cup Water
1 cup chopped onion
1/2lb to 1 lb lean ground beef (90% lean) (or any other ground meat)
1 10 ounce can Rotel Mild tomatoes
1 15 ounce can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 ounce can Sweet Corn, drained
1 12-16oz box whole wheat penne pasta
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic, minced
Optional: 1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese

Instructions

1) Preheat Oven 305 degrees F. 

2) Spray Casserole dish or 9x13 pan with non stick spray and set aside. 

3) Cook Pene Pasta

---- While the pasta is cooking you can make the rest of the meal.

3) In a skillet (or pot) brown meat adding in garlic and onion. 

---- You can use pre-cooked meat just warm up in skillet with garlic and onion)

4) Drain any liquid out of the meat and return the pan to low heat

5) Add the Rotel Tomatoes, water, salt, pepper, tomato soup and stir well. 

6) Make sure your pasta is drained and then mix the meat/sauce mixture with the pasta. 

7) Let sit on low heat 

8) Rinse the black beans, then add corn. 

9) Pour Noodles into the casserole dish

10) Spread Black Bean/Corn over top the noddles. 

11) Sprkinle with cheese if desired. 

---- If you are going to freeze it stop right here. 

12) Bake 15 Minutes

Family Home Evening Charts

Family Home Evening (FHE) is a program in the LDS church to help strengthen families. You can read more about it here. But the basics are the family that prays together stays together. And to help make sure the whole family is involved we make these cute little boards or charts so we can keep track of who is supposed to do what.

Well Trey and I decided it was time for a FHE chart. I want a nice wooden one but I could find one I liked. Which means I'm going to be designing and making my own, with character meant for our family. Until then I needed something. I went searching for papers and found some adorable ones at MeinLilaPark. Then I whipped these up.

Frog FHE Chart

 

Stars and Stripes FHE Chart

Grey FHE Chart

They print out on a standard sheet of paper. My plan is to laminate the sheet and use wooden clothes pins with our names on them. I'll post pictures of those once they are done. I was just to excited to get these done that I had to share.

You could also use magnets or once laminated you can write on it with a dry erase markers.

Have any ideas for other themes or patterns??