Friday, October 27, 2017

Chut Up Condiments Are Delicious!

Have you ever heard of CHUT UP? No not shut up! Chut Up! Chut Up specializes in condiments that are better for you! They use high quality ingredients to create some of your favorite condiments.

We use a ton of ketchup and hot sauce in my house so I was happy to try their Beet Ketchup and Peri Peri Hot Sauce.


The hot sauce is very hot. It packs some heat! The main ingredients are tomatoes, red onion, red bell pepper, and Tai peppers.



My daughter enjoys it and uses it with her corn chips instead of Salsa and last night added it to her white rice.

I love the Chut Up Beet Ketchup! It is made with roasted beets, organic apple cider vinegar, cloves, garlic, and mustard seed. It taste amazing. If someone served it to me, I would never know it was made from beets.



So far I have used it on my turkey burger and my Zucchini Ricotta Pancakes.


They are made with zucchini, diced onions, egg, ricotta, Parmesan cheese,  bread crumbs, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. They were amazing!


Thursday, October 26, 2017

Proud Mommy Moment



This year the kids have both brought home report cards that make me so proud. They are such good kids. I am very fortunate. Handsome has always been an excellent student. He takes great pride in his school work and always aims to do his best. Working hard from the moment he gets home until it is all done. He is like me. Do it now so I can play later.

Granted Goddess has way more homework than he does but she has never been good at staying on task. She needs constant redirection to stay on task and homework that should take probably an hour takes her about 4 because she never stays seated. Bath room, checking for cat pics on Instagram, scooter breaks in the hallway, bothering her brother, regular stuff but so annoying.

This year they removed her from the inclusion class which meant no special teacher in the class to keep her on task and make sure she is on top of her assignments and writing down her homework assignments. I am usually on top of her but this year she does come home and get started even if it takes hours. She seems to be much more responsible and I am happy to see that when I write to see if she is missing any assignments; she is not.

Both my kids report cards are way better than mine ever was.

Handsome is in the 95-100 range except for Spanish which is at 89. NOT BAD!
Goddess is above 89-95 in everything except for math where she has a 75. I am thrilled with this 75 because she was only pulling a 65 even with all the extra help last year. So excited for them.

They surprise me every single day. They are both polite, love volunteer work and help me out with chores without any lip. Well Goddess say she doesn't want to but does it anyway. Where Handsome says, "OK" and "no problem."

They are both amazing and I love them to pieces!

I Have Found My Forever Coffee Brewer - The Ninja® Coffee Brewer with Auto-iQ® + Video Review




The 411: 

This is a total coffee house. I drink 2 cups a day, my daughter drinks a cup a day BUT my husband he is a 12 cup a day guy. So needless to say we needed to consider going back to coffee brewer. I was thrilled to be able to review Ninja Coffee Brewer. I have seen the commercials and really wanted to see if this was going to be easy enough for him to consider going back since he is such always on the run and has no patience to wait for coffee but savvy enough to be above the basic coffee machine.

The Ninja Coffee Brewer comes with a water reservoir that is easy to fill and contains enough water to fill the carafe that comes with the system. BUT, if you are looking to just do one cup there is a coffee cup stand that folds up when using the carafe.

There are three modes you can use when brewing your coffee; Classic, Rich, Over Ice, or Specialty.  We always use the classic. I believe the Rich mode allows your grounds to "bloom" a little longer for a fuller body cup!

This doesn't mean we are giving up on our other coffee machine but we are definitely looking forward to saving money on our K-Cups and using the Ninja when we are both drinking coffee, on the weekends and when we have company. So much easier than waiting for each cup to be made.  

My Video Review



Tuesday, October 24, 2017

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK





The 411:

This haunting and mesmerizing story is written as if it is a real mystery. I enjoyed the set up and while I have never watched the movie I feel I did. It is so descriptive and the landscape written so well I could see the beach, the steps, the cliffs, it is truly a must read. 

Now I feel like I need to see the movie to get the full feel.


Monday, October 23, 2017

The Many Uses Of Honey




We use a ton of honey in this house. 



Here are just 10 of the things we do with honey here:
Add it to our tea (every single day)
Make a drink with apple cider vinegar, honey, cinnamon and lemon that we drink (every morning)
Use it on cuts if I am out of Neosporin. It happens too often. Thank God for honey.
Use it as lip balm when my lips are dry
Mix milk and honey for a great facial mask.
Add it to my muffins instead of sugar
Make a thick cough syrup with ginger, lemon juice and honey


So I was really excited when I was asked to try Rice's Raw & Unfiltered Honey. It is yummy! My daughter and I loved the Local Great Lakes better than the Local NorthEast. We found it less sweet which works in many of our uses better but they are both amazing.




Let These Emoji Style Pumpkin Carving Templates Get You In The Halloween Spirit

I love this!
We carve pumpkin's every year. They have come a long way since we started doing them when we first got married. Now that we have kids they are pretty fun.

Here are the ones we made this year.




Now I feel like we need another pumpkin. I love these Emoji Templates.
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Saturday, October 21, 2017

The Emoji Movie






The 411:

Friday night my family and I settled in to watch The Emoji Movie.  The movie is about the life inside your smartphone. You know where all the Emojis hang out waiting for you to use them. The ones you use most get to hang out behind the velvet rope because they are the superstars. The top emoji's in my phone right now in top order are....

The movie follows Gene who is the son of Meh. The Meh's are good at their jobs. They are meh about everything however Gene has a problem. He cannot stick with his emotion. He has emotions and can't seem to control himself.  He is about to make his debut in the cube of emoji's on a young boy named Alex. As he takes his seat along with Poop, Pizza, Hearts and the rest ready to be scanned if chosen in a text with his parents looking on he accidentally makes the wrong face in his scan completely messing up a text Alex sends to a girl.  He is quickly classified as a malfunction and will be deleted.

We thought the movie to be funny. It is a good family movie with lots of Poop puns and clean innocent fun. Who would have thought it was so stressful for all those emojis in our smartphones?

Thursday, October 19, 2017

The Wine Box Gnome Is The Perfect Hostess Gift


This wine box gnome is an adorable gift perfect to say Merry Christmas! It makes the ideal wine gift box for gifting a bottle to friends, family or anyone else with whom you want to share a special bottle. There's no reason why these cuties can't be used for candy and other gifts too!The amazing box is a perfect gift for holidays, dinners, Christmas parties, events & all occasions!



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 The 411:


So much cuter than I expected. The Gnome's nose is the only thing you see on his face because this guy is all beard. His hands are pose-able and can lovingly hold the top of the bottle.

His body is a cardboard cylinder that fits a wine bottle perfectly and his head rests easily on the top of the cylinder without falling off. There is a twine handle but I would not carry it by the twine.

His head can also sit on a bottle as a topper if you choose.

Even the box is super cute.

I always give wine to my in-laws and I know they will adore this guy this Christmas.


Thursday, October 12, 2017

October In My World


I do a lot of drive by photos in October. It is my favorite month so I will stop the car many times while driving if I see a photo worth taking. We are only in the 2nd week of October and I have pulled over over 15 times to take a photo. Don't you just love the Fall!?





Monday, October 09, 2017

Miss Split Stitch Is A Ripping Good Time

When my daughter puts on a Halloween mask that my husband has worn on Halloween for years she becomes a different person. This year we named the character Miss Split Stitch

Miss Split Stitch is fun. She loves hanging out and chatting with friends. 


She isn't shy and has zero fears about performing in front of others.



And when day is done..she goes to bed without a fight. Miss Split Stitch is the best!

Friday, October 06, 2017

After School Snacks To Make Homework Better - Jarlsberg Cheese Crisps And Cheese

My kids get home fairly early in the day from school. With a few hours until dinner I love giving them a snack while they get their homework done.  Sometimes it is cereal, almonds, yogurt but these days it is a plate of easy bites like, cucumber, crackers, cheese, dried nuts and pears and apples. These days, the kids are into the new Jarlsberg Cheese Crisps! They like the Sea Salt and I love the Rosemary and Olive Oil! YUM!

Two weeks ago I received a box of cheese that had me salivating the moment I opened it. It housed my absolute favorite Swiss Cheese or as my daughter calls (Tom and Jerry Cheese) and then some!


If you haven't tried Jarlsberg yet and love cheese, check it out. The Swiss Cheese is soft, mild, delicious and great alone, grilled, as an accessory or melted in Fondue.  

On the tray are the Jarlsberg Cheese Crisps Sea Salt flavored. I have already had to buy two bags since I received this bag.  As my kids love it and my daughter asks for it in her lunch box.

They are a little spoiled but I love them and love making what they like!

I left two of the bags in the conference room at my job at 8:00 a.m. this Monday for the ladies I work with and when I went in for lunch at 11:15 there was 1...imagine this? 1 cracker left.  So needless to say we will be getting more Jarlsberg Cheese Crisps!

If you are looking for a new cracker for your lunchboxes, after school snacks or whenever, check out the Jarlsberg site to find out more about the story of Jarlsberg, recipes and other Jarlsberg products.


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Sunday, October 01, 2017

Decorate A Trick Or Treat Bag This Year That Glows In The Dark


My kids are 12 and 14 and still love Trick O'Treating thank God! I am not ready for them to give it up. Every year they take a plastic pumpkin which we have had since they are 3 and we head out. I end up transferring their candy to another bag I carry when theirs pumpkin gets full. We should have gone to a larger bag years ago but this is still what they use. Now that we stay out longer, they get way more candy and this bag will be perfect. My daughter loves it. She took her time coloring it and can't wait to use it.

The bag is made of a lightweight canvas with two handles and features cute Trick O' Treat art work in the front that is made with a special paint that glows in the dark.







This is not our first rodeo with Colortime Crafts. I used them a lot when I was a Brownie/Girl Scout leader. Their markers give great coverage and are easy to use. 

Colortime has great products from T-shirts and pillowcases to Trick O'Treat bags.