Spooky Bats Halloween Craft

I know I have said before that I am very thankful for Pinterest. I am not the craftiest of people, hence the blog title, so I seek ideas and directions on crafts to do with my kids on a regular basis. Last week I finally sat down and made a list of the Fall crafts I wanted to do with the kids in the next few weeks. Spooky Bats are easy and we did them, because I had all the materials on hand except the googly eyes. So we set out to make the bats.

What you need.

• a cardboard egg carton
• black paint
• ribbon
• googly eyes
• paint brush

I must say that we didn't have finger paint either, so I looked up a recipe on how to make our own. Here is the recipe . . .

1c water
1c flour
food coloring

Mixed the flour and water in a bowl till smooth. Add food coloring to make the color you want. Done! This turned out to be a great learning opportunity for Misses, because she had to mix the colors to create black and orange.

Check out the final product done by Misses (4) and Bubba (1)!

Bubba got board and ate some paint, but who cares it's just flour and water!

Our Spoooooky Bats hanging from the fan.

They aren't completely black because Misses got tired of mixing.

Unreal Candy Bzz Review

 

Unreal Candy

 

 

 

Not to long ago, I received coupons from Bzz Agent to try the NEW Unreal Candy. As a woman with a serious sweet tooth, I couldn't be more excited. I mean who doesn't want to eat yummy candy that doesn't have the yucky stuff in it and fewer calories to boot! Not to mention, I have 2 little ones who also enjoy candy, and I would love to have a healthier alternative to their favorites. Okay, I'll stop beating around the bush and get down to the nitty gritty.

 

We tried all of the types you see in the picture above. The options above mirror the following mainstream candy types: Peanut M&M's, Plain M&M's, Snickers Bar, Milky Way Bar, and Reese's. However, they do not contain any of the following ingredients:

 

1. Corn Syrup
2. Partially Hydrogenated Oil
3. Artificial Ingredients
4. GMO's
5. Preservatives

Unreal candy does have a low glycemic index and fewer calories than its mainstream counterparts.

So I'm sure you are like . . . Great, but does it taste good? You know because nothing that is lacking all those things could possibly be yummy in taste. Well this is what the kids and I thought.

The Unreal 54 (chocolate covered peanuts with a candy shell) looks nice and has a great texture. I thought it and the Unreal 41 (chocolate with a candy shell) had a slight dark chocolate taste. The dark chocolate taste wasn't over powering, but I could still taste it. The kids thought they were very good and ate them up.

The Unreal 5 (chocolate caramel nougat) looked very appealing, smelled good, and had a nice taste. I didn't taste any dark chocolate this time. Misses loved it, but Bubba didn't care for the caramel.

The Unreal 8 (chocolate caramel nougat peanuts) looked good, smelled good, and tasted great. Both kids like this one too.

The Unreal 77 (chocolate peanutbutter) looked good, did not have much of a smell, and tasted oh so good! I love Reeses, so needless to say, I did not share this one with the kids. I waited to try it when they were asleep. It had a great texture and not one hint of dark chocolate taste. I keep mentioning the dark chocolate because, I don't care for it.

All in all, I would purchase this candy for myself and my kids. I personally would not eat the Unreal 54 and 41, due to the dark chocolate taste. Oh, and I need to mention that the price is comparable to the mainstream candy counterparts. That is a plus for me. I get alittle irritated when I have to pay more for a healthier alturnative to a food.

Here are some pics of the kids enjoying their treat!

 

 

 Note: As a Bzz Agent I was given these products to review on my blog. All opinions are my own and no compensation was given.



Mommy's Under the Weather Activity

Last week when we came home from our weekend in Wisconsin Dells, I started to feel under the weather. As the week went on, I felt worse. The kids were getting restless staying inside, so I needed to come up with something they could do where I could lay on the floor or couch.

 

I remembered using up the last of my coffee that morning, so I went and got the big can, the free stickers we had gotten from the YMCA, ribbon, and tape. The kids were going to make a drum! Thankfully, I didn't have a headache with this illness.

 

So we set out on the living room floor to create some fun!

 

Here they are decorating it. Yes Bubba is trying to eat some glue.

 

Bubba washing down the glue taste and putting stickers on the drum.

Misses making music! Don't mind the mess, remember I was sick.



 



There you have it a cheap activity the kids can do if Mommy needs to rest a bit due to illness or exhaustion. 

Luster Premium White (teeth whitening system)

 

 

 

Anyone who knows me knows I like to have white teeth. I have tried almost every over the counter whitening product on the market ranging from strips to toothpaste. Since I am an avid coffee, tea and dark soda dinker; keeping my teeth white can be a challenge especially the older I get. Therefore, I was ecstatic when I was given the opportunity to try Luster Premium White for being a Bzz Agent.

 

My Bzz Agent kit contained the complete one hour white system which included:

                    Step 1: Mouth Rinse

                    Step 2: Super Whitener Gel

                    Step 3: Whitening Light

                    Instruction Manual

                    Tooth Shade Card

I also received the Luster Power White Fluoride Toothpaste.

 

 

 

After about two days, I found time to read through the instructions and plan out my whitening schedule. This system is great because it has a flexible whitening schedule. Which is good for me because with two little ones and a busy life it can be hard to find a good time to take care of myself. The instructions gave four whitening schedules:

 1. Complete 10-20 treatments in the course of 1 hour

 2. Complete 5 treatments in the morning and evening over 2 days

 3. Complete 3-4 treatments per day for 5 days

 4. Complete 2-3 treatments a day for a week

 

I chose schedule 3 because it fit into my life the best. The treatments only take 3 minutes to complete. I started to see good results after the completion of the tenth treatment. I started at a 6 on the shade card and ended at a 2! I am very happy with the results. I am more happy with the fact that I don't have to do this again for 3 months to maintain my results. Also, the light is reusable which is good for the environment and my wallet. The only issue I had was that the whitening gel irritated my gums. It didn't cause me pain, it was just bothersome. As soon as I rinsed my mouth the irritation subsided.

 

I will continue to use this product in the future and I will finish off the toothpaste to help maintain my whiter smile!

 

 

 

Note: As a Bzz Agent, I was given these products to review for free on this blog. All opinions are my own and no compensation was given.

 

 

 



Homemade Cheese Crackers

Picture came from In the Kitchen with Kath
Linked from a Pinterest Pin



My baby is 15 months old and it is time for me to get my family back on track with our eating healthy, unprocessed foods. The other day I was scanning through my boards on Pinterest, and found this pin on how to make homemade cheese crackers (aka Cheese its). Before looking at the recipe, I thought this is probably going to be time consuming and difficult. To my surprise the recipe has all of six ingredient! All the ingredients are pantry staples, so I didn't have to make a store run to try this recipe.

Misses and I got started on making the crackers. I must add that a food processor makes the job super easy. Thanks to my good friend, Kelly, I have one!

Here is the recipe taken from http://kathdedon.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/melt-in-your-mouth-homemade-cheese-crackers/  (My recipe modifications are in maroon)

Sorry I don't have any pictures, my camera is MIA!


Makes about 70 1-inch square crackers

~

1½ cups (6 oz) grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
¾ cup (90 g) flour, plus more for dusting
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon milk

1. Preheat oven to 350˚.
2. Put everything except the milk in a food processor. Pulse the processor, 5 seconds at a time, for about 5 or 6 times, until the dough is in coarse crumbs.
3. Add the milk and process until the dough gathers together in a ball.
4. Roll the dough out on a floured board with a rolling pin that has been floured until it is about 1/8 inch thick.
5. Cut the dough into 1-inch squares with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. You can put a bit of flour on the blade of the knife to keep it from sticking.Use the flat end of a wooden skewer to poke a hole in the center of each cracker.
6. Place the crackers at least ¼ inch apart on parchment paper on a baking sheet. I didn't use parchment paper, and the crackers turned out great.
7. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until the edges are just starting to brown.
8. Put the baking sheet on a rack and let the crackers cool completely
9. Eat! Or store in a covered container to eat within a day or two. Another site said they'll last for a week in an airtight container.

"Easy, Successful Garage Sale"

How do you feel when you think about having a garage sale?

Personally, I don't jump up and down with excitement, but sometimes I just have to have one to get rid of the stuff we don't use anymore.

Last week I set up and had a garage sale all on my own. Yes, I am 32 and had never had a garage sale, without the entire town having one the same day, on my own. So I set out last week to accomplish this task. It ween pretty well, but I made it very easy on myself.

How to make a garage sale easy . . .

1. Don't price every item you have, especially the clothes.
     a. Put up signs that say make an offer.
     b. For the clothes put up signs selling selling them all for one low price.
         aa. I sold mine for fifty cents each piece.
     c. Don't price anything less that .25 cents so you don't have to deal with
         dimes and nickels.

2. Don't stress too much on having enough tables for all your stuff.
      a. Put anything that could be damaged on the ground on a table.
      b. Make a table out of some totes or plywood.

3. Advertise where it's cheap!
     a. Social media has made it very easy to advertise just about anything and
         it is FREE!
     b. Put up signs to direct people to your sale.
         bb. Walmart and Menards carry the signs for about .98 cents per sign
                and stake. I was lucky and got a "Garage Sale Kit" on sale at Menards
                for $1.99.

4. Change
     a. Go to your local bank and get at least $50.00 in change.
     b. There's no need to use a money box, just use a Tupperware container or apron

5. Placement of Items
     a. Put the big items out on the driveway
     b. Put any items men might be interested in out on the drive (men are
         becoming big garage salers)
     c. Breakable and small items should be kept in the garage

6. Open and Close at your advertised times

7. Accept Offers
     a. Some people will offer you less money or ask what your bottom dollar
         is for an item don't take offense. Work with them. Do you really want
         to take the item back into your house when you don't even use it? I sure
         don't. Plus, it is better to get some $$ for the item, rather than having to
         haul it to the Goodwill after the sale and get nothing.

8. If you have little kids let them run a lemonade stand.
    a. Only charge twenty five to fifty cents for the items at the stand
    b. Let the kids keep the money

9. Items that don't sell
    a. Bag up things to donate
    b. Bag up things to take to a resale shop
    c. Throw away anything else. You don't need it, so don't keep it.

10. Collect your signs

11. Count your earnings!

Wooliteer Review

As a member of Crowdtap (a collaborative marketing platform) I recently tried Woolite Extra Dark. When the product arrive, I was skeptical about how it would help my dark clothes stay looking new longer. Plus, I wasn't aware that Woolite could be used in a washing machine. Surprise, it sure can! I'll be honest with you I don't have time to go down to the nearest stream and beat clothes on a rock.

But since I was trying it with no cost to myself, I figure I might as well give it a shot. So I piled all our dark clothing aside from the rest till I had a full load to wash. This didn't take too long since I have several dark shirts and my husbands work shirts a dark as well. Not to mention all the denim shorts we have been wearing lately due to this crazy heatwave.

I have to say, I do like this product. The clothes came clean and the color stayed intact. The detergent has a nice smell too. It works in both top and front loading machines including the high efficiency models. Plus, Woolite Extra Dark works well in cold water as well as hot. So if you are like me, and do not want to spend the extra money on washing your laundry in hot water this stuff works in cold just as well. So save yourself some pennies and use the cold water!

In the future, I will use Woolite Extra Dark on my jeans and other dark clothes. I like that it keeps them looking new longer without causing stretching or shrinking, so when I put my jeans on after a wash I won't get a complex. Not to mention, I wear the same jeans until they literally fall apart, so if I can extend the life of them, I am all for that especially for the price I pay for a good pair of jeans.