Tag Archives: IL

Tornado Touches Down / Stormy Spring Weather in Illinois

Spring has arrived in Illinois with a vengeance. Last night, a huge tornado touched down in several small towns about 75 or so miles west of Chicago. The town of Fairdale (with a population of less than 200 people) was decimated. The news reports are saying that every building in the town was damaged, if not totally destroyed. Close by, the towns of Ashton and Kirkland were also hit by the massive tornado. There was a lot of damage in Rochelle, IL too.
We actually have friends who live in Rochelle. I was able to “talk” with them via text about an hour after the tornado touched down. They assured me their family was safe, but asked us to pray for some of their friends that were trapped in the basement (where they had wisely taken shelter from the storm) of a nearby restaurant called Grubsteakers. This restaurant is (was) a local landmark located at the intersection of Rt. 64 and 251 in Rochelle. It was a staple in the community – people have been eating there for decades … my own husband was there a few months ago.
I don’t know why, but I have always liked stormy weather (from the safety of my home). I think it’s because I love the sky. It is amazing (and sometimes frightening) to see a huge flash of lightning and then wait for the accompanying clap of thunder. The sky produces innumerable variations of colors and shapes. Sunsets are probably my favorite though … so many awesome color combinations. I also love star gazing on a clear night.
However, that same sky that gives us amazing sights to see, can also produce very angry and scary images too. The sky can darkened so quickly during a storm, especially when that storm hits late in the evening just as it is getting dark for the night. I can’t even begin to imagine how scared those people were …
I’ve never experienced a tornado … have you?

Tracy Helps You ~ Your Personal Assistant for Shopping & Running Errands

Would you like to have a wife?? No, this isn’t a marriage proposal. What I meant was, wouldn’t be nice to have a partner / someone to help out with some of your household duties?? How about someone to run those time-consuming, never ending errands??

I got a chuckle one day last week when I rang the doorbell at my client’s house. I was returning from running her weekly errands and grocery shopping. She opened the door with a smile and said, “Yay … my ‘wife’ is home”. It was too funny 🙂 Continue reading →

My Top 10 Favorite Things About Spring Time in Chicagoland

I think May is my favorite month in the spring. You can pretty much rely on having mild temps and sunny days. Of course, I do live in the Chicagoland area, so weather wise, nothing is ever for certain 🙂 I love getting to see everything come back to life after a long, cold winter.

• Lilacs ~ so many varieties, colors and glorious scents

• Seeing the brave little Hyacinths, Tulips and Daffodils breaking through the ground

• Seeing and hearing all the robins everywhere

• Having more daylight hours

• The smell of fresh cut grass (sorry allergy sufferers)

• Starting my organic vegetable garden

• Getting to wear sandals

• Being able to have the windows open for fresh air

• Cooking and eating outside

• Going for long walks in the forest preserves or on the IL prairie paths

These are some of my favorite things in the spring. It is usually a short-lived season in the Chicagoland area. We tend to move into hot and humid summer weather fairly quickly … but I do love the few blissful weeks in May with its mild weather and promise of new life 🙂

Many thanks to http://www.manylittleblessings.com & http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/ for co-hosting List It Tuesday 🙂

Pinterest Pins ~ Homemade DIY Dry Mix Recipes and Tips

This seems to be my week for trying out Pinterest DIY recipes. I hope you follow me on Pinterest 🙂 Yesterday, I made up 3 different recipes for dry mixes … you know, those little individual packets they sell. I made taco seasoning, poultry seasoning, and ranch dressing mix. I think these recipes will be healthier than the packets because I can control the ingredients.

I’ve made the taco seasoning before and love it. I found the recipe for it a long time ago, but I’ve made some minor adjustments to it, customizing it to my personal preferences.

I ran out of poultry seasoning and was shocked at the price for a tiny little container. So I decided to try to find a recipe for it on Pinterest. There were many to choose from. I followed this recipe. Who knows, I may doctor it up for the next time like I did for the taco seasoning.

I also found one for the dry ranch dressing mix. I’ll use this recipe for dips as well as salad dressing. I also found a recipe for baked ranch fried chicken that I’d like to try.

Since I was buying so many different spices, I purchased the inexpensive Aldi brand. They have a non-clumping preservative added to them, but at least my recipes will be low sodium. As I run out of the individual spices, I plan to buy a better quality replacement. My budget couldn’t handle this larger initial purchase. I am also planting an herb garden this summer and plan to dry my own herbs in the fall. I’d like to be able to have sodium and preservative free dry mixes in the future.

🙂 Helpful Tips:

I used empty spice containers that I saved for such a time as this.
I quadrupled the recipes to have them on hand longer.

Do you make any DIY type recipes to replace some of the packaged convenience foods that are filled with so many preservatives? I’d love to try your recipe 🙂

Let Tracy Helps You Help With Your Next Party ~ Graduation, Birthday or Shower … it’s up to you !!

What do birthdays, graduations, weddings, and babies all have in common? They all are celebrated with a party !! Spring and Summer are filled with fun parties to celebrate a graduation, a baby shower, a wedding, a confirmation, a birthday, an anniversary, and family reunions ~ just to name a few (okay – more than a few). Our calendars fill up fast with party invitations.

Throwing a party is a lot of work … picking the best date, making the guest list, getting the invitations sent out (digitally or by snail mail), planning the menu, house cleaning, shopping, cooking and preparation, decorating, and of course, the clean-up. Like I said, it’s a lot of work ~ fun work ~ but work none the less.

I love throwing parties … I love the planning … I love being the hostess, but I also love the moment, after all the clean-up is finished that I get to sit down and put my feet up 🙂 It is such a good feeling !

Tracy Helps You can get you to the “put your feet up and relax” stage of hosting a party sooner. Let us be your assistant hostess. We can help with any stage of your party. We can do the shopping for you, or help with the decorating. We can be the “kitchen help” during the party. We can keep the trays of food full, top off the bowls of chips and dip. We can stay ahead of all the dirty dishes that come with hosting a party. An extra pair of hands definitely makes the work easier 🙂

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you actually had time to enjoy visiting and catching up with your friends and family, knowing that everything was running smoothly “behind the scenes”? Plus, after you’ve said your good byes to your last guest, imagine the feeling of walking into a clean kitchen … as opposed to a pile of dirty dishes to do and bags of trash to take out.

Hire Tracy Helps You as your assistant hostess for your next party … you won’t be sorry 🙂

7 Standbys You’ll Always Find in My Organic Garden

Spring weather is in the air this week, we’ve had quite a few days that have been sunny and in the sixties 🙂

I’ve started my vegetable garden seeds indoors over the weekend. Now I patiently wait to see signs of life. I get so excited when I see tiny bits of green coming out of the soil.

This year I got seeds from a company that specializes in Heirloom Non-GMO seeds. I want to try to save seeds from this years harvest to plant to next year … wish me luck 🙂

Here’s my list of the 7 vegetables I’ll always have in my garden … my standbys for having fresh produce for summer and fall.

Tomatoes ~ I just love fresh tomatoes … there’s nothing like the first bite of a vine ripened tomato of the season … I’m planting Roma and Grape tomatoes
Peppers ~ Green Bell Peppers and Jalapeño
Broccoli ~ Lots of broccoli
Green Beans ~ I like the kind that climb up a trellis
Cucumbers ~ I like the burp-less variety
Carrots ~ I’m actually planting these in large planters, they seem to grow straighter in the softer soil … no rocks means less resistance
Potatoes ~ This year I’m trying these in a large container as well … hopefully, I’ll be able to just dump the container and pick up the taters

Spring is my favorite time in the garden … planting is fun ~ weeding and watering ~ not so much 🙂

Many thanks to http://www.manylittleblessings.com & http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/ for co-hosting List It Tuesday 🙂

Monday’s Menu ~ Recipe I Made Up for Stuffed Shells

A while ago, I decided I wanted to expand my recipe repertoire. For meal planning, I usually rotate my family’s favorite meals. I have about a dozen or so “go to” dishes that I make so often that the recipe is etched in my memory. We also have some seasonal favorites ~ soups and stews for cold weather months / salads and grilled meals for summer time. There is a fine line between “routine” and “being in a rut” … I was starting to feel like my dinner menus were in a rut. So, since Monday is usually the least busy day on my schedule, I came up with the Monday’s Menu idea. When my schedule allows, I try out a new recipe that I found on Pinterest, Facebook, in a magazine or an “old school” cookbook 🙂

Yesterday I made Stuffed Shells. I’m calling it my own recipe, because I sort of took bits and pieces from a few recipes (cookbook, Pinterest and pasta box) plus some shortcuts from the pantry and created my own version. Continue reading →

Anniversary Giveaway Results ~ And The Winner Is …

Today is the day … it’s our First Anniversary here at Tracy Helps You !! I’ve been looking forward to this day for quite a while. Sadly, statistics show that many small businesses shut down within the first 5 years of operation. We are celebrating the fact that we can now say, “1 down a few more to go” 🙂

And the WINNER of the Amazon Gift card (drumroll please) … will be contacted via email. I know, kinda anti-climatic especially after a drumroll, but I want to respect the privacy of my subscribers.

I would like to take this time to THANK all the clients that I’ve been blessed with and had the pleasure of “helping” this past year. You’ve all been wonderful and make what I do … FUN !!

I have received a report from Rafflecopter with your responses to the giveaway entry questions about what topics and subjects you’d like to read about here in my blog and in the newsletter. Also, thank you for your suggestions in the comments section. I plan to incorporate all this info into my blogging / newsletter topic planner.

So my friends, going into our second year of business, I’d appreciate your thoughts, tips and/or suggestions. Do you have any ideas to improve our website ~ navigation or design? Would you like to see additional services offered? How about on our social media profiles (I hope you like / follow me) … what type Pins, Tweets, and Statuses would you like to see more of? Do you have any advertising suggestions (keeping a small budget in mind)? They say “word of mouth” is the best type of advertising … I appreciate any referrals that you have made or will make for me 🙂

Tracy Helps You

~ A Personal Assistant Can Be A Real Lifesaver ~