The Sewing Mom

This post brought to you by Private Selection. All opinions are 100% mine.

For some reason lately, my husband & I have begun to enjoy having dessert after dinner.  I think for so long we just never bothered, but we both are finding that having dessert after our evening meal is really quite enjoyable!

I do cook, and occasionally back, but baking isn't really my favorite thing to do.  While I have made a few desserts lately at home, most of them of come from the grocery store or the fast food drive thru, much quicker and way less trouble then making it from scratch!  I've even been buying our special occassion cakes from the store, I don't hae any desire to bake and decorate birthday cakes anymore. 

I've been shopping at Kroger since we moved to the Dallas area 6 years ago and recently discovered their Private Selection™ Upside Down cakes, premium quility desserts without the premium price.  These cakes come in 3 flavors including German Chocolate Fudge and Amber Honey Apple Spice, but my favorite is the Double Chocolate Molten (which also serves to satisfy completely, my husbands severe chocolate cravings).  They taste like homemade without all the mess because they use the very best ingredients.  Private Selection™ cakes are super easy, just warm them up, flip them over, serve and enjoy!  Private Selection™ is a premium private label brand carried exclusively at the Kroger family of stores which includes Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Fry’s, Gerbes, Pay Less, QFC, JayC, King Soopers, Owen’s, Ralphs, Smith’s and Fred Meyer.  Find your nearest store by using the store locator link:  http://www.privateselection.com/store-locator/

Right now you can get a $1.00 Private Selection Upside Down Cakes coupon  and learn more about the Upside Down cakes.  If that's not enough incentive, share the Private Selection Upside Down Cakes on Facebook and they will give you a $2.00 coupon instead.  Either way, share or not, the coupon is electronic.  The website will ask you to choose your local store and the coupon will be electronically downloaded directly to your shopper card.

Disclaimer:  Coupon ends 6/2/13. Official Rules. In order to load these coupons to your card, you will need to sign into your Kroger account or set up a Kroger account and enter your card number. Limit one use per digital coupon. Digital offers are not eligible on Manager's Specials, cannot be combined with manufacturer paper coupons on the purchase of a single item, and do not double. Not all items are available in all stores. A limit of 150 coupons can be loaded per household at one time.

Like and follow "Private Selection on Facebook and Private Selection Upside Down Cakes on Pinterest

P.S. "Don't Forget the Cake!"

My to-do list just seems to be never ending, as soon as I cross one task off, another one is added. It doesn’t help that these aren’t the everyday mundane tasks, but rather unusual and a bit more complicated. Of course, I’m doing the mundane tasks at the same time, without bothering to add them to my list.

I spent the weekend searching for our marriage license. After almost 27 years and 6 relocations, it wasn’t where I thought it would be. The pressure was on because our employer sponsored health insurance is demanding all employees provide proof that their spouse is their spouse and their dependents are indeed their dependents. I guess there have been too many people claiming dependents that aren’t actually theirs. I finally located the document, thank goodness, and along with our daughter’s birth certificate and our tax return, my husband submitted it all today. We should be in the clear now.

I’m currently working on the next major paper trail task and that’s filing a protest with the county tax assessor regarding our property taxes. We just recently refinanced our home, in fact, just signed the final papers a week ago. The appraisal we had done showed a significant reduction in our property value, sadly. However the county is showing an increase, hmmmm, I think NOT!

When I get that completed, I hope to start putting the binding on my granddaughter’s quilt. It was supposed to be a gift for her 2nd birthday, but that was all ready almost a year ago. So, I’m hoping to have it done for her 3rd birthday instead!

Enough talking, I need to get back to researching to process for protesting our property taxes. Have a great day!

My daughter is finishing up her Junior year in high school and we are already seeing that with her Senior year starting in the Fall, there will be many changes, mostly to personnel at the high school. Now I’m not sure of any details, and I don’t care to speculate, but in at least one instance, I think a former teacher may be looking into drug rehab centers for himself.

Other teachers who are leaving or stepping down into lower positions are as a result of poor performance in their current job. Honestly, in the case of the Varsity Softball coach who was the poorest excuses for a coach I’ve ever seen, she may be wishing she was visiting drug rehab centers instead of just being demoted. I think her performance over the last six years has become nothing short of disgraceful and I am certainly glad she will no longer be involved with the high school softball program.

We have actually recommended that our daughter’s softball batting coach apply for the newly opened position. She has played the game since she was a young girl, played in the Junior Olympics, played the game for a D1 college and even played 1 year as a professional softball player. Not too many women have that on their resume! She is also wonderful with the girls she works with and her knowledge of the game would be invaluable. The only thing she would need would be to get her teacher certificate which, since she all ready has a bachelor degree, I don’t think would be a problem. She wouldn’t be able to get it in minutes, but she could definitely have it by the start of the next school year.

I’m sure the stress of the job, whether it’s a band director, a teacher, or a softball coach, can be immense. As mentors to so many teens, I would hope they were strong enough as individuals that they wouldn’t need to know where the nearest drug rehab centers are like their former colleague I mentioned above. But we really don’t know what some people are battling in their personal lives, do we?

Anyway, my daughter is certainly looking forward to her Senior year, including all the changes!

Post written by me, Lynne Peck, and all opinions are mine.

My daughter has to work tomorrow, so we celebrated Mother’s Day today.  The 2 of us spent the afternoon at a local shopping area where they were having an Art Fair.  We wondered around on a perfectly beautiful day, browsing the various vendors.  While there was nothing we actually found that we had to buy, we did enjoy being outside and being together.  My husband met us there and the three of us enjoyed a lovely late lunch at a local French bistro.  I hope all of you moms enjoy as wonderful a day tomorrow as what I had today!

I found myself sorting through stacks of paper and mail that had collected on our kitchen counter over the past month or so. Good thing I took the time to do so since my husband had failed to show me an important letter we’d received from his employer regarding our health insurance coverage. I discovered that I now have just 2 weeks to provide evidence that I am indeed his spouse and our daughter is indeed his true dependent.

Of course, it’s simply a matter of provided a copy of a wedding certificate and birth certificate, but had I not found out that we are being required to supply this documentation, mine and my daughter’s health insurance coverage would have automatically been dropped.

We are a fairly healthy family, but just getting an annual mammogram for myself would be quite costly if I didn’t have health insurance. My daughter plays softball and has suffered minor injuries in the past that required medical devices of one sort or another. This year, we’re planning to have her wisdom teeth extracted and need the insurance to cover the procedure and any medical devices she might need for her recovery.

We’ve jumped through so many hoops during the past couple of years to not only keep our health insurance coverage, but also to try to keep the cost down as well. This is just one more annoying thing we have to do and all because of people abusing the system, claiming dependents on their coverage who aren’t truly their dependents. Honestly, I would love for everyone in our country to have health insurance coverage, but it’s the people taking advantage of the current system that are causing rates to skyrocket and coverage to go down.

If you haven’t had to pay out-of-pocket expenses lately, count yourself lucky. Just click on this link to see many of the various medical devices that may or may not be covered by insurance. If you’re having to pay any of these out of your own wallet, you’ll find out fast just how expensive it can be.

Anyway, now I’ve got to go dig through files and find the appropriate certificates so we keep our coverage. The good news from all of this? My kitchen counters are now completely cleared off and look amazing! Wonder how long that will last!

This post written by me, Lynne Peck, and all opinions are mine.