Have you seen all the new flashlight types? Some of these are pretty amazing!

Was in Walmart the other day and took a minute to look at the various flashlights....I ended up buying one of those big fat ones with a handle that take the square battery....it works great. Highly recommend it. Had tried various mag lights and other flashlights whenever I was walking my dogs at night and I have to tell you....that lantern style was stronger than the mag light! And only $3 with the battery so win win for this cheapskate!

Ok well other than taking it on a camping trip or lately I have been shining mine in the bushes,etc while walking the dogs and taking one in the car at night to make sure I don't twist my ankle in a parking lot.....flashlights are one of those things you take for granted til you need it....then it goes up a notch in your opinion. I guarantee you can find one you will find useful at some point from the list below....these all were seen in Walmart....probably even more types out there! Enjoy!--Tips

These are headlight type "flashlights" you put on a cap....I guess could come in handy hiking in the woods....could see branches ahead of you or other things at eye level and obviously whenever you turned your head it would illuminate the things you were looking at....could definitely come in handy

if you look at the little illustration to the right hand side....this flashlight has various angles it can be adjusted to

this is the type of lantern I bought which I love....mine is not a floating lantern like this one but if you have a boat that would be a plus....says lasts 10 times longer....I have no idea the validity of that statement

this is a spot/flood light....could come in handy when working on cars or what have you

this says 360 degree area lamp so hang it in a tree at your campsite or event and enjoy the area

this is pretty cool...i think it has a radio if I remember correctly....says weatheready

these are two more cap lights....but LED this time....for trails it says

this is a solar powered light which hey...you don't always have money for batteries!

if it wasn't for the price tag I would have bought this.....i think they wanted $40 but it has a radio and a light and i think it charges your cellphone too....very nice for hurricanes,etc

this is a nice bright light with an adjustable head....says LED folding lantern.....

this is nice LED lamp that hangs....good for hanging over any table or work area or car you want illuminated

this is a nice lantern style flashlight but you can use the battery area for storage....be nice for the boat to keep things dry

this says ultra bright spotlight....looks like could come in handy especially if in areas with cliffs or other steep dropoffs.....

Well hopefully you found one or more you could use in this list....pretty amazing eh?--Tips

Get yourself a quesadilla maker at Goodwill and make them at home!

I bought a quesadilla maker at Goodwill for next to nothing....I think it was all of $5.....they are around 20 or 25 in the stores....Quesadillas are an easy dinner to make and they are great for nights when you either don't feel like cookin' due to a busy day or you don't know what to cook and you have a bag of cheese in the fridge that needs to be used up....well that never happens but you see where I am going with this don't cha? They are easy for the lazy chef and that wins hands down everytime in my book! ( for the record my dollar store has the tortilla shells)

So get yourself a quesadilla maker or plan to fry them or however you want to do it is fine by me. I will be making mine in my handy dandy quesadilla maker from Goodwill.:)

So I usually serve my Mexican meal with corn and refried beans. Sometimes I cook yellow rice as well. If you have not tried it, do so. Yummy and a great filler if you are running low on meat. Which I was last night so I decided I would make cheese and bean quesadillas....Now if you really want to make them delicious sauté some real onion in some olive oil first and then add it and some cheese and black beans to your tortilla shell but I was also running low on motivation and energy last night. So I planned to make rather unimpressive cheese quesadillas but as luck would have it they turned out delicious and shocked me so I am sharing them with you!!

I started by adding cans of refried beans and corn to the pots on the stove. To my corn I add a little sugar and a pat of butter and to the refried beans I added a dash of cumin ( little goes a long way....do not be heavy handed), generous globs of salsa and some onion powder and some minced onion flakes since I was not in the mood to cook some real onion ( see above). I headed both of these on low heat in the back of the stovetop while the quesadillas cooked.

I then put the tortilla shells on two plates side by side with equal number of shells...so in my case there were 4 of us so 8 shells....4 per plate. You could make them by using one shell per person but my date on the shells is only for a few more weeks and I didn't have rice,etc for additional meal making possibilities.....wanted everyone to get enough in other words. :)

So I went in search of black beans then remembered I had put them back in line due to a big dent in the can....so no black beans to bulk them up. No energy to fix onion to bulk them up. No yellow rice. Hmm......how about blackeyed peas? They are mushy like refried beans....might be able to make them think they are black beans.....worth a shot right?

Started by draining the blackeyed peas in the sink ( I use luck's....it has a wonderful sauce on the beans) and then added about half the can to the refried beans on the stove ( yes you read that right....I am not one for wasting food) and then added the rest to the two quesadillas that my husband and I wanted....the kids will barely eat the cheese ones....hence the rice and corn usually. You can also serve tortilla chips on the side which I normally do and they have chips and cheese and corn. Hamburger if I am up to cooking it but see above....it was a bare bones dinner kinda night :)

So I made two cheese quesadillas and then put them on the plate that did not have any shells on it.....I preassemble my shells and toppings and then end up with several on top of each other waiting for the cooker and then an empty plate....so I sprayed the quesadilla maker with cooking spray ( I am not a fan but in this case easier) and cooked the two cheese ones first ( they were on the top of the stack) ....and then moved on to the cheese and blackeyed pea ones....my only complaint is if you leave them on there too long some of the cheese and the beans fall out ( I leave an edge on the cheese and shell for this reason....stop your cheese about an inch or half inch before edge of tortilla shell)....I then transferred them to plates and used a pizza cutter to cut them and added refried beans, corn, salsa and sour cream to each plate!

Well I am happy to report the quesadillas with blackeyed peas were delicious and the refried beans had a nice lumpy texture to them! Be making these again! Go get you a quesadilla maker and they will be calling you the hit of the block! You could use it at parties or Cinco De Mayo,etc....Enjoy!--Tips