Making Your Own Homemade Butter

Have you ever been curious about making your own butter? If you've made it before you know it's pretty easy and if you haven't you're in the right place! I've broken it down into easy picture directions. The best thing about making your own butter is you can add flavors like cinnamon and honey or garlic and herbs. Follow these easy steps and you'll have your own fresh butter!

Start with an empty glass jar and a container of heavy whipping cream, as you can see I used my local store brand. I let my heavy cream sit for tweleve hours at room temperature before starting. I suggest letting it sit out over night and making it in the morning. The glass jar I used was an empty applesauce jar cleaned well and dried.

The next step is to pour your room temperature cream into your empty glass jar and make sure the lid is on tight! You don't want heavy whipping cream splashing all over your kitchen!

Start shaking and soon the jar is coated with the cream. Shake about one shake per second for two to three minutes. If you have kids this would be a good time to let them help shake it up!

After the shaking is done you are left with a jar of butter and buttermilk which will look like this.

Pour off the buttermilk from the butter. Don't throw this away though! You can use it for making buttermilk biscuits or pancakes!

Now it's time to rinse your butter with cold water. Pour the water into your jar covering the butter and shake for a half a minute or so. Drain off the extra water like you did with the buttermilk and throw away. I rinsed mine twice.

This is what you end up with at the end of the process. After you get the butter into your bowl you can add your salt or any other kind of herbs or mix in's to make this taste how you like. You can also get a bit more water out of it while you're moving the butter from the jar to the bowl.

I stored my butter in a small plastic container with a lid I had laying around. Your butter is now ready to eat on your favorite bread. This butter tastes so good you'll want to make it again and again!

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Exploring Florida--Sweetwater Wetlands Park

Located in Gainesville, FL, Sweetwater Wetlands park is a unique ecosystem where the alligators, horses and buffalo's roam. The boardwalks and trails get you up close and personal with some of Florida's amazing wildlife. Some of the animals you might encounter include turtles, alligators, plenty of birds and if you are lucky enough you'll get to see some of the wild horses or buffalo.

On our visit to the park we were blessed to see a group of five horses grazing alongside the trail. They didn't pay us any attention as we made our way past them. I was able to take plenty of pictures of them as we strolled down the trail. We didn't get to see any of the buffalo's on our visit but maybe next time!

Sweetwater Wetlands park's trails are handicap accessible and well marked. They do ask you to remain on the trails and boardwalks at all times for your safety! Bring plenty of sunscreen with you and water as the park is large and there isn't much shade. They do have a few pavilions where you can stop and rest though. Bathrooms are located next to the parking lot so make sure you go before walking the trails!

The cost to get in the park is $5 per car and you should bring exact change since you pay by honor box. Some things to keep in mind are pets are not allowed at the park for their safety. Also bicycles, drones and fishing are also prohibited. The address to the park is 325 SW Williston Road, Gainesville, Fl 32601. Sweetwater Wetlands Park is open seven days a week, including holidays. Hours are 7 a.m. to Sunset. Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints!

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Fishing And Finding Trash!

This weekend I was doing a little fishing from shore in the Gulf of Mexico here in Florida. I was standing on big rock trying to keep my line out of the oysters that were around. I just happened to look down and I saw a part of a fishing reel in the water. Well when you see reel you think line and I didn't want all that line to get in the water and hurt our wildlife. I reached on down and pulled it out of the drink and discovered it was a Penn reel that was broken but full of line. I tossed it on shore to throw away later.

I took a little break from fishing and decided to walk around the shoreline looking for any other trash I could find. It didn't take long before I collected a old bent jig head and bunch of fishing line. It really only took me a few minutes of my time and I was surprised by how much line I found. I was in a public fishing place and the state does have garbage cans there. I went ahead and took the bundle of line and the old reel and tossed them in the garbage.

After picking up the trash I decided I would do a little more fishing. I didn't take long though before I found some more fishing trash! Right in the water on the edge was a fake shrimp jig with treble hooks that looked very realistic. This kind of thing would be horrible for a bird to eat thinking it was a real snack. I also found some metal fishing leader. These items also made it into the trash can!

I didn't set out that day with the intention of picking up trash from our fishing spot. It just kinda happened organically because there was stuff around and I knew it shouldn't be there. I was raised with the saying "Take only pictures, leave only footprints". That's a motto that I follow and teach my daughter. After all this our only planet. These are our beautiful waters and wonderful creatures. It's our trash and we need to keep our world clean.

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Fix A Slow Running Coffee Maker

Lately my fairly new coffee maker has been running really slowly. I turn it on as soon as the alarm goes off and it seems like fifteen minutes later it still isn't done brewing enough for one cup. It's creating a problem in the morning because my husband only has so much time to get ready and as hard as he works getting up earlier to have time for coffee isn't an option. Generally coffee makers start to run slow when they get a build up of minerals in them. The good news is that it's really easy to clean your coffee maker and you don't have to rush out and buy a new one. I purchased my coffee maker when we moved back in October so I'd say a good rule of thumb is clean your coffee pot about every six months. I use a drip coffee maker and not a single use but I'm sure you can clean those the same way!

All you need to clean your coffee pot and get it brewing like new is some plain white vinegar. I just buy the store brand, you don't need anything fancy. Vinegar is a natural cleaner so you don't have to worry about any chemical residue being leftover after the cleaning process. I poured about two cups of vinegar into my coffee maker and let that brew just like you would coffee, of course you don't want any coffee grounds in there while doing this! After the two cups has gone through add another two cups of water and let that run. Things should be starting to work a little bit better already! Now dump that pot of vinegar water out and let cool. Once it's cooled down refill the coffee pot with water and let it run through the brewing cycle. Repeat this step at least twice letting the machine cool between brews. This will rinse the coffee pot out and get all that vinegar smell gone. I timed my last brew cycle and the whole twelve cup pot was done in only six minutes. That's a big improvement from it taking fifteen or twenty minutes for two cups to brew! If your pot is running slow and messing up your mornings then give this vinegar cleaning a shot!

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Prom In America

I think we can all agree that prom is a pretty special event in the lives of teenagers. The cost of prom is rising though and I'm right in the middle of learning first hand just how costly it can be. My seventeen year old high school Junior is going to her first prom in May. We started shopping for dresses in January, so I feel as if I have been in Prom mode for awhile now. This is my daughter's first prom and I obviously wanted to make sure it was special for her. However, things have surely changed since I went to my prom twenty years ago! Back then I spent a hundred bucks on my dress, which felt like a lot! A friend of mine did my hair for free and I did my own make-up and nails. I think my dad gave me thirty bucks for a nice dinner at Bennigans with my then boyfriend, now husband and our friends. I can't remember what the cost of the ticket was but I don't imagine it was very much!

Prom isn't even just about the dress anymore, there are so many other factors that your teenagers are thinking about. Have you ever heard of a Prom-Posal? Teens are now spending more money that ever just on asking that special someone to the event. Make-up, hair and nails are being professionally done and that can really add up! Going back to the dress you also have to have the perfect shoes and don't forget the jewelry. We spent quite a bit of time trying to pick out the perfect necklace and earrings to match my daughters dress. Thinking back to my prom again I just wore a necklace I already had that was special to me and probably the same little diamond studs I've worn since I was sixteen when my mom gave them to me.

I was curious as to what the national cost of prom was and was surprised to learn the average was $1,139.00 in America. In Canada the average cost is a little lower coming in at $804.00. We can safely assume that most teenagers aren't paying for prom themselves so parents are really forking over the money for this event. That gets me to thinking about how hard this all must be for kids whose parents are really struggling and don't have the extra money to spend on something like prom. I'm not sure how prom turned into such an expensive event. I hope that the magic of the event isn't outweighed for most teens by the rising cost of everything and worrying about how it's going to be paid for. We plan on donating my daughters prom dress to our local school next year to help someone in need. There are quite a few prom oriented charities that help teens who can't afford to get a dress. If you have some prom dresses or maybe even bridesmaids dresses laying around consider donating them to your local community. I'm sure there a bunch of girls out there who would really appreciate it!

Dear Victoria Secret: Please Bring Back Your Bathing Suits!

Ladies, I think most of you can agree with me, we miss Victoria Secret's bathing suits. I'm actually still mourning my loss of my favorite brand and until recently I hadn't even bought a new swim suit. I was just making do with my old favorite Victoria Secret bikinis since they quit selling them. I realize that they are still selling swimwear under the PINK brand, which is fine for my seventeen year old, however I miss the old VS Swim selection.

So about a week ago I finally broke down and ordered a super cute bikini I found online and patiently waited for it to arrive. Now I know buying bathing suits online isn't practical but I live in a very small town and also take care of my father in law, so getting out is limited. I knew my size with Victoria Secret and that made buying online so convenient. So my new bikini showed up and was a little skimpier than I'm used and the top had no lining! Hello, these nipples need coverage, I know I can't be the only gal that doesn't want to have those headlights blazing on the beach! I'm still debating on whether or not to send it back since my husband didn't mind the skimpy bottoms!

I've been asking my girlfriends where they buy their suits and time and time again they all are agreeing that they too miss Victoria Swim! I'm hoping, wishing and praying that they change their minds and decide to bring the swimwear line back to stores and online! What I really liked about their suits in particular is that they had all sorts of coverage, from super skimpy to more modest. The pieces were pretty much mix and match and they always had the best colors! When you buy the same bikini in different colors you know you have a winner and I had that in Victoria Secret swimwear.

So what do we need to do Victoria Secret? Start a petition? Write, call and post to social media? I mean I really need you guys to figure this out! Summer is coming! If you are a fan of Victoria Secret Swim and miss them leave a comment and let me know where you've found bathing suits since they quit selling them.

Paying Off Debt With Free Money Online!

Over the last year we've accumulated quite a bit of debt after a change in living situation. My father in law, a Vietnam Veteran, got sick last year at this time and had to move in with us after spending eleven days at the VA. I quit my full time job to take care of him on a daily basis. On top of this we decided to renovate his home so we could move out of our rental and eventually save money! My husband worked hard all last Summer fixing up the house and we were able to move in last October when our lease was up. I've always made money online here and there from various sites. Whether it's PayPal money which I can use to buy anything, including paying my bills, or with Amazon cards which I save up to buy gifts or everyday household items. Now I really had a purpose to my earning which was also part of my New Year's Resolution...to save money and pay off debt. As we all know things always come up and it makes saving very hard. I recently decided to use my online earnings to help pay of this debt!

One of my favorite earning sites is Super Pay Me. You can check it out and sign up to earn here. As you can see from the photo above I've made over four hundred dollars on that site, which is pretty darn good. I have the PayPal business MasterCard which I can use to make payments on some of my accounts. I'm starting with my smallest debt and working my way up, focusing all of my extra money to that goal. So far in the last week I've managed to make an extra ten dollars in payments to my account that I've working to pay off first. Hopefully by making these extra payments before my next statement comes out I'll be able to not only pay this balance off faster, I'll save some money in interest charges!

I earn the most money on Super Pay Me by completing surveys. My two favorite survey walls are Tap Paid Surveys and Your Surveys. You can also earn money by completing various offers on their offer walls and also by referring friends. I dedicate a separate email for signups so my main email doesn't get slammed with spam! It's pretty easy to earn on that site and there is also a chat wall where you can see which offers are crediting and how much people are making. You'd be surprised by how well some people do! Obviously you're not going to be able to make enough to quit your job but if you are like me and could use a few extra bucks while sitting at home this is perfect for you!