The Liebster Award!

 

How exciting the Nifty Thrifty family has been nominated for the Liebster award. I want to thank Samantha Buckly over at 24 to 30.com for nominating the Nifty Thrifty Family. The Liebster award is an award that honors up and coming new blogs and in return they need to pay it forward. Some say the Liebster award is a chain letter that has lots of work involved with it. But I don't care, I am still proud that someone would consider my blog out of thousands of other ones. So again a Big Thank You to Samantha.  If you get a chance you should go check out her blog 24to30.com it is a really cool site.

The rules are:

1. Post 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions the nominator(s) asked.
3. You (the nominee) come up with 11 new nominees (no tag backs) and 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
4. Nominees should link back to you on their Liebster blog post.
5. Lastly, be sure to actually let the nominees know they've been nominated.  

Random Facts about me:

1) I started blogging when my husband and I bought our home we live in now. I needed a way to show my friends and family everything we had started doing to make our house our home and then I fell in love with being able to write about things.
2) I coach 4-5 year olds in basketball at the YMCA
3) I love the color pink. I feel sorry for my husband sometimes because my daughter and I are over powering with pink.
4) I have a fear of being left somewhere with no transportation to get home.
5) I am terrified of birds.
6) This past summer I just learned how to mow a yard. This has always been my Husband's chore. But I wanted to learn just in case one day I had to do it myself.
7) Since I had my daughter, I love going to Disney world. You can say I am a Disney junkie. I am so sad that we are not going this year.
8) I have worked for the same company for 13 years and for the last  years I have worked as an Import Broker for them.
9) Almost every morning I drink a jumbo fountain Mt. Dew at work.
10) My neighbors are my in-laws in one house and my sister n law in another house. What was we thinking when we bought our new home...LOL
11) I have a dream of owning my own frilly store, that sells used furniture that has been refinished, premium used items and neat stuff.

The questions that Samantha asked me:  

1.  What is your favorite book or movie? My all time favorite movie is Dirty Dancing. I can sit and watch this movie over and over again. At one point in my life I knew every single line spoken in the movie. 
2.  What is your favorite winter activity? My favorite winter activity is shopping. I love hitting all of the clearance sales.
3.  What was your first car? 25th anniversary Chevy Camaro Z28, it was purple.
4.  What is one thing you could eat every day and not get tired of? I love pizza.
5.  Would you rather ride a roller coaster or the Ferris wheel? I would ride a roller coaster. My husband tries his best to place me in the very front. I love to scream my head off and have that adrenaline rush.
6.  What is your least favorite household task? I hate cleaning house. If I had to pick one, it would be folding clothes and having to put them away. I usually just leave all of my clothes in the basement folded in laundry baskets and hanging up.
7.  What's one clothing item or accessory you couldn't live without? A pony tail holder. I wear my hair up more than wearing it down.
8.  Do you have any pets? I have a black cat with yellow eyes that is 13 yrs old. I also have 1 dog, which is an Airedale Terrier, that has 3 legs and who is a cancer survivor.
9.  Do you prefer high heels or flip flops? High heels. I wear heels all day and I feel more comfortable in them.
10.  What is one household possession that you couldn't live without? Our internet modem. We have to have the internet for everything we do.
11.  What was your favorite vacation ever? My Husband and I went to Hawaii for 17 days on our honeymoon. It was a trip I will never forget and I hope to go back one day.

My 11 nominations are:

Two Chics and a Blog 

High Heels and Scuffed Sneakers

It's a kaleidoscope world 

Lessons on the Cheap 

Baby Bear Hugs

The Stony Brook House

To the Moon and Back 

Young Mum's Guide to Survival

What happens when you live

Two Love Birds With Out A Nest

Traveling Kids on the Go

11 questions for nominees to answer:

1) Why did you start blogging?
2) What is your favorite color and why is it your favorite?
3) What is your biggest fear?
4) Do you work outside the home?
5) Do you have any animals?
6) What is your dream job?
7) What do you do to relax?
8) Do you have any pet peeves?
9) Thinking back over your life what is one event you would change if you could?
10) Out of all of your vacations which one has been the best and why?
11) When and where do you type your blog entries? In an office, at the coffee shop, when the kiddo's go to bed?

Chicken Salad

One of the biggest hits at my daughter's tea / birthday party was the Chicken Salad Croissants. I was shocked to see five year old's eating the sandwiches and asking for more. I am not a pro at making Chicken Salad; this was actually my first time making it. I found that making Chicken Salad is fairly simple and easy.

To make Chicken Salad you will need the following.

 Chicken breast - either frozen in a bag or from the meat department
Mayonnaise
Celery
Grapes - I used red ones
Salt
Pepper
White onion
Croissants
Nuts, pecans (optional)

To make things easier on me, I placed my chicken in the crock pot. I used a whole bag of chicken, due to the number of people I was feeding. You will have to use your own judgement on the amount of chicken you want. Just remember that 1 chicken breast can make about three to four sandwiches using hamburger buns. Place chicken in the crock pot, cover with water and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours. When the chicken starts to fall apart, remove from crock pot and place in a bowl for shredding. The chicken should be so tender that it will fall apart when touched with a fork. The next step is going to need lots of forks or spoons, for taste tasting. Place the desired amount of mayonnaise in your shredded chicken and stir it up. Make sure you don't over do it. You don't want to make it to runny, but then again you don't want to dry either. This is where your taste testing will come into play. Now is a great time to slice the those grapes into and throw them in the salad. Use your judgement on the amount of grapes. I like to use enough grapes that with each scoop there is usually  three to four grapes. I am a type of girl who does not like a chicken salad sandwich that does not have one single grape on it.

This picture is without the mayonnaise in it yet. The grapes were being added.

Once you are happy with the grapes, it is time to place the onion. For me more onion the merry. For a small bowl with t four chicken breasts, I typically use 3/4's of the onion. Make sure you chop it up very good, throw it in the salad and stir it up very good. The next thing that needs to be chopped is the celery. Again for about 4 pieces of shredded chicken I would typically use 2 stalk's of celery, chopped very good. When chopped throw it in the salad and stir very good.

Here is all the ingredients in the bowel with out the mayonnaise in it yet.

 The last thing is to add the salt and pepper to your taste liking. If you want you can add some nuts or pecans to the salad.

This is the finished product.

 My pictures do not show the mayonnaise going in first. You can make it either way. I think it is easier to stir the mayonnaise in first because it is less things to stir. You can always add more ingrediants at any time. I would let the Chicken Salad chill in the fridge for a while so all the ingredients can mingle and blend.

Happy Eating!

To check out more about my daughters tea / birthday party check out the following links:

The Big Tea Party Birthday 

Thrift store tea cups and tea pots 

Finding the perfect invitation 

Finding the right place to hold a tea party 

I have linked this post to the following blog hop's

http://www.athometake2.com/2013/01/wonderful-food-wednesday-and-comfort.html

http://thediydreamer.com/from-dream-to-reality/from-dream-to-reality-linky-party-52/

I thank GOD today that my family is alive.

Today I want to give thanks to God. Last night I was awaken by three alarms going off in my home. As I was getting up to go check them out, I thought to myself I hate those detectors, those things are out of batteries or malfunctioning again. Low and behold they were actually protecting our lives. When I made my way to the basement I could see the numbers on one of the Carbon Monoxide detectors was not flashing zero like the time before. My eyes grew big, when I saw the number flashing 188. The other detector I had downstairs which is just a plain circle detector was going off too. I knew this was not a malfunctioning or battery problem. I rushed back upstairs to my main level and the detector there was reading below 100, but still beeping. I knew we had a problem, but I still had no clue what to do. I went to my trusty Google and searched for carbon. All I remember is reading turn off furnace, call fire department, leave home. But there was still one more problem after I read that.What number do I call? My problem was not really a 911 urgent issue, but I did not have the direct number to our dispatch either. So I called the only number I knew for our city and from there the nice lady directed me to our Metro Safe and gave me that number. Remember I am still in the high level carbon home, with the kitchen door standing wide open, letting the house air out while I make my call to the fire department.  During all this commotion I had to take my daughter next door to Grandma's house so she could be safe. The firemen came with their sirens and lights. I am assuming it woke up all the neighbors. My sweet daughter missed it all, because I made her go to Grandma's. The firemen did detect that there was Carbon Monoxide in the home. They made sure the gas was turned off and that the levels were safe for me stay in my home.
Bright and early this morning I called the plumber to come out and the furnace company. Come to find out my furnace was not working properly. I could write a whole blog page on this rant about the furnace issue when we bought the house, but I am going to chalk it up to, live and learn and be thankful the furnace is fixed and I did not have to buy a new one.
As for Carbon Monoxide detectors I hope and pray you have one for every floor of your house. There nothing wrong with having two on every floor. Please check these often. Because these detectors saved my daughters and my life last night. I also will stress to make sure you get your furnace cleaned every year. Please protect your family from this silent killer. All I can say is THANK YOU JESUS for putting your love and protection around my family.