Birthday Cakes & Disasters – Fun with Food Friday

Posted by html404 on March 9, 2012
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats

We had 3 birthdays to celebrate in Februray month, so that’s always lots of fun! We celebrate pretty simply. For our birthdays we get to choose a birthday meal and dessert and choose a movie to watch. We usually decorate with a banner, balloons and sometimes streamers and extras.

The girls and I love to bake. Homemade cakes are not a problem. The problem comes with the decorating. I usually like simple cakes but on occasion we take on something out of our comfort zone. Our four year old likes Elmo and requested and Elmo cake. My oldest daughter found something that looked easy enough without having to buy a new cake pan. It was the head of Elmo. That’s it. I told her to use one of our stainless steel bowls to bake the cake in and voila! Here’s the end result:

Not bad for amateurs, eh? Well, next came the frosting. First, we forgot about food coloring so we had to run out for that, BUT a certain person (who shall remain nameless) grabbed tubes of piping icing instead of food coloring and no one noticed until we got it home. Improvise, right? Uh-uh. Not a good idea when it comes to the right colors etc. The butter cream frosting was de-lish, but it melted way too fast by the time the coloring was mixed in – should have put it back in the refrigerator! We just are not Buddy Valento of Cake Boss when it comes to having royal icing on hand. So here is the result:

A drooping mess of goo. 🙁 Oh it tasted wonderful, the cake was nice and moist and chocolate-y yummy! Our sweet little boy just giggled and said,”A pink Elmo” and yours truly said, “Elmo had too much Pepto Bismol!” which made my husband laugh and say, “Honey!” But all of us “older” folks got it even if the younger children didn’t, as they do not even know what Pepto Bismol is! Thank goodness Nookie Bear is so young to be able to overlook his birthday cake disaster. One last look for good measure and to keep me humbled.

Now look away quick because here was my oldest daughter’s choice of cakes:

Oh yes, it was scrumptious! And no, there’s none left. That cake bit the dust the night it was served.

Here’s how our oldest son’s cake turned out:

And lest you start to feel bad for my poor kiddos, my oldest son was just here as I was editing his cake picture and he said, “Mommy, I love that cake.” Awww…can you say sweetheart? I can!

Let’s just say that we may just be going back to Dairy Queen’s ice cream cake if anyone wants anything fancy again or at least we will be staying within the scope of our abilities!


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Give a Rescue Dog a Dingo Bone!

Posted by Brande on March 8, 2012
in Animals, Community Issues, Contests, Organization

Everyone deserves a treat!  Help Dingo Dog Bones reach 100,000 fans.  When Dingo Bones reaches 100,000 fans they will give 100,000 bones to rescue dogs!  Go to Dingo’s Facebook Page – Click the Tab on the left “Rescue Sweepstakes”.  Then you can enter your email address to be selected to choose one of 20 winning rescue shelters!


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Free Disney Coloring Pages from Crayola!

Posted by Brande on March 8, 2012
in Family Stuff, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Saving Money, Thrifty Thursday

Head over to Crayola’s site to download FREE Disney Coloring pages!

At last check they had:

Fairies, Mickey Mouse, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars, Toy Story & Princesses!

Here’s the site!

http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/disney/

Happy Coloring!


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Malnourished Children & Future Fortified Campaign

Posted by html404 on March 8, 2012
in Giving Back/Charity, Health, Health and Nutrition

There are needs everywhere and it is impossible to meet them all, but just once I would love to be able to help every person and every organization I know needs that help. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Alas, I can only help a few at a time.

I have joined another campaign involving Future Fortified to help children.

The Campaign

Future Fortified is a campaign of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) to help millions of women and children around the world access the essential nutrients they need to lead healthy, enriched lives. Our goal is to provide sustainable access to improved nutrition for 50 million women and children in developing countries by 2015.

Did you know…

~ Approximately two billion people around the world do not receive the daily recommended nutrients they need for proper growth and development?
~ 35% of all deaths each year among children is due to poor nutrition in mothers and children?
(Source: Future Fortified)

1,000 Days from Future Fortified on Vimeo.

Home Nutrition Packets

Home Nutrition Packets are Future Fortified’s solution to this problem. It is a little packet of nutrients that women and children can simply sprinkle over their meal for added nutrition.

My thoughts

I actually think this is a great solution and would be very easy to use since the idea is for families to just add the nutrients to their local food. It sounds like the packets will be small enough to carry, handout or ship. That would be a bonus compared to bulky containers that supplements can come in. The families wouldn’t have mix anything and there are no complicated instructions.

Giving Back

A donation of $20 is being made to Future Fortified because bloggers like me are writing posts to spread the word about this campaign. Donations will cap at $1000.

More Information and to Join the Campaign

Website: http://futurefortified.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FutureFortified
Twitter: https://twitter.com/futurefortified

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Future Fortified. To thank me for my contribution, Mom Central donated $20 to the Future Fortified campaign.”


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Resurgence of Cloth Diapers: The Ecological and Economical Choice

Posted by html404 on March 8, 2012
in Eco Friendly Products, Guest Post, Saving Money, Thrifty Thursday

If you are currently expecting a new baby or are a mom with a child who has not been potty trained, you may have considered the many choices in diapers for your baby. Perhaps you have compared name brand to generic, or plan to purchase whichever diapers happen to be on sale when you need to make a purchase, but there is another option you may wish to explore. More moms than ever are choosing to use cloth diapers for their infants.

The number one reason for choosing cloth diapers over disposables is price. While it is assuredly less expensive to buy a single box of newborn diapers than it is to purchase enough cloth diapers to get a working system going, in just a short time cloth diapers pay for themselves. The average cost of a single diaper is $0.35. It is estimated that normal babies go through 6,000 diapers through their first two years of life. That totals $2,100 in disposable diaper costs alone. Factoring in other variables, such as disposable wipes and rash creams, may put the two-year disposable diapering cost over $2,500 per child.

The average cost of a cloth diaper is $10, but several less expensive diapers can be found. The traditional cloth diapers that must be secured with pins and tucked inside rubber bloomers are the least expensive option, but they are more prone to leaks than the new diapering systems that use pocket inserts or the ease of all-in-one functionality. The most expensive cloth diapering systems may cost around $16 each, but these are adjustable, washable models that may last through several children. Like disposables, these diapering systems have several sizes, but typically children only require them in small, medium and large from birth to toilet training. It is recommended that at least 36 small diapers, 30 medium diapers and 24 large diapers are purchased to keep an ample supply through wash cycles. Even at their most expensive, a total cost for cloth diapers is $1440. The cost of laundering diapers, even at a high-end estimate of $123 annually, does not close the gap in price between cloth and disposables. Cloth diapering systems use cloth baby wipes, and infants are less likely to develop rashes in cloth diapers. This eliminates the additional costs involved with disposable diapers, saving over $800.

Another factor that encourages moms to choose cloth is the environmental impact of disposable diapers. While disposables may offer a certain amount of convenience to busy parents, they pose a definite imposition on the earth. It may take up to 500 years for a single disposable diaper to biodegrade. This is merely an estimate–not one diaper of the millions that have been used has broken down to this day. Disposable diapers are the third most common consumer waste products in landfills today, and they represent up to 50 percent of the household waste of homes with a baby. For earth-conscious moms, cloth diapers offer a superb, reusable alternative to wasteful disposables. They are a perfect way to save money and reduce environmental impact at once.

Holly Adams from Coupon Croc contributed this post. On CouponCroc.co.uk, you can find the best coupons on everything you need to go green.


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#CBias Couponing for Kids #AllYouCFK

Posted by html404 on March 8, 2012
in Blog Stuff, Coupons

On Tuesday I took my youngest daughter and oldest daughter shopping for children in need for a Champion For Kids campaign I am participating in. We will probably donate the items to our local food pantry or women’s and children’s shelter, such as Turning Point, they accept donations on behalf of women and children who have been victims of domestic battery. Both are right here in our town and are always in need of things. The last time we were at the food pantry was when we picked apples and delivered them in the fall. I had my boys carrying milk crates full of apples and the lady working there was so appreciative and impressed with the boys help that she gave them these little treats they have on hand for the kids. I thought that was so nice….but would have preferred my boys to feel good about being big helpers with words of appreciation not a treat. Not that a treat is wrong, but I want my children to learn to do good out of the goodness of their hearts and because it’s the right thing to do. Know what I mean?

Our Shopping Trip

We shopped for a laundry basket, a measuring tape, new UNO cards, socks for one of my sons, a few groceries and my oldest daughter wanted to look at blouses since she still had birthday money to spend. Guess what took up most of our shopping trip? Yep, my daughter and the blouses! 😉 We tried looking for Happy Baby products since I still had coupons for FREE products, but Walmart did not have them. We settled for Buddy Fruits instead since those would provide fruit for the kids who come to the food pantry or Turning Point.

We also used coupons for sliced cheese, cereal, crackers, tuna and baby wipes. I clipped some this morning from the internet and then found the tuna coupons in the All You magazine, which was good because the one thing the food pantry is lacking the most is protein and I noticed that Turning Point also has it on their list of needs. I think this is the first time I have consciously “couponed for good” and will definitely consider Couponing for Good again. It would be great to make it a monthly habit, as a way of giving back to our community and being an example to my children of how to make a difference with such a small SIMPLE service project.

You can see my whole shopping trip story on Google+.

Food Pantry Drop Off

I forgot the Food Pantry is closed on Tuesdays, so we will have to drop off our donations another day. But am now leaning towards dropping it off at Turning Point since finding out they have more regular hours that would accommodate my husband’s work schedule and allow me to run over after he gets home from work. My husband was home on Tuesday and I had the car so I could get our Azure food pick up at the Farm & Fleet parking lot, stop at the Secretary of State office to see what I needed to do to renew my license, returned to get my license renewed/replaced and then my oldest daughter and I also went to the animal shelter to check the status of a puppy we were interested in but she got adopted. 🙁 Then we ended our day by getting our hair cut.

Definitely a busy, but fun day.

Champions for Kids

To learn more about Champions for Kids visit:
Website: http://championsforkids.org/
Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/#!/champions4kids
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChampionsForKids

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. #CBias #AllYouCFK


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Playing Piano – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on March 7, 2012
in Family Stuff, Home, Wordless Wednesday

This was meant to be a post a few weeks ago, but when it went live there was not photo and Liz actually caught it. However, when I went looking for the photo couldn’t find it! It was on the other laptop. Sigh. Here it is…finally. We have five children taking piano, and one child who has dropped out. Sniff, sniff.


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Get on the Shelf…of Walmart!

Posted by html404 on March 7, 2012
in Gardening, Home, Products for Mom

I never knew that Walmart held voting for consumers to vote on products they want to see on the shelves of Walmart stores, but they do. Starting today you can cast your vote for products you would like to see in your Walmart store. I want to encourage you to vote for KitchenKuffs! Remember Professor did a review not too long ago on these and many of you thought they were a great idea.

You may vote every day until the voting closes on April 3, 2012. Round 2 will be from April 11-24. Vote today to get KitchenKuffs on Walmart shelves!


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Balance Complete – Part 3 of the Slique™ Series

Posted by html404 on March 6, 2012
in Health, Health & Garden Tuesday, Health and Garden Tuesday, Health and Nutrition

Some comments left last week made me think that there is some misunderstanding concerning how I am doing with the Slique™ Challenge to achieve my weight loss goals. The photo below is the suggested regimen:

This is what my meals may look like on any given day:

Meals

Breakfast: I am big on breakfast. It is pretty much my favorite meal. I start out by having my orange juice with my vitamins and fish oil. Then we usually have cold cereal, oatmeal, toast, eggs or pancakes.

Snack: Slique™ Tea, water with Slique™ Essence, sometimes a piece of fruit or dried fruit like Craisins or Wolfberries. My Ningxia Red, which is a nutritional drink full of antioxidants.

Lunch: Slique™ Tea 15 minutes before. Balance Complete (a meal replacement shake) or a light lunch. Eaten with enzymes (for digestion).

Snack: Slique™ Tea, water with Slique™ Essence.

Supper: Slique™ Tea 15 minutes before. Balance Complete or a light supper. Eaten with enzymes.

For the most part I have not been consistent in doing any of this. It’s been hit or miss and I have mostly been eating what my family eats. I have had no weight loss so far in the last week and three days. Nor have I gained any. I am hoping to up my activity to some walks this week, but we’ll see if I make that goal. I am also an emotional eater, which was taught as a wee one I am sure, so if I have a bad day I tend to eat more. Lots of bad habits to change.

Balance Complete

This is a meal replacement powder. It is vanilla flavored. It smells good and tastes good. I prefer to take it in cold water. I need to start making this one of my meals to see if that helps me drop some pounds.

Inches

I met someone at an essential oils educational class last who is also doing the Slique™ Challenge and she is not only weighing herself but measuring herself. So while she has not dropped any pounds, she has lost inches, which keeps her motivated! Pretty good idea, one I plan to implement as soon as I find my tape measure or purchase a new one!

That concludes Part 3 of the Slique™ Series.

Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.


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Barefoot Executive Review

Posted by html404 on March 5, 2012
in Books, Business

It is always exciting to learn of a person who is doing what you want to do. In my case it’s work-at-home. I know, I know, I am doing that already, but let me finish. Work-at-home and make enough money to obtain financial freedom for our family. Those are my goals and have been during the last four years since my husband was laid off and earning less than he did. Carrie Wilkerson minces no words in her new book, The Barefoot Executive and how she reached her financial goals.

Carrie shares her own journey and the lessons she’s learned in this book. I pretty much marked my copy all up reading it because what she had to say is what I needed to hear/read.

Quotes I like from the book:

“You simply cannot spend your life in fear of losing your job, your health, your life or your wife. I decided that I had to create my own financial reality and job security. Was I afraid of failing? Yes, but I could continue being scared and broke, or I could be afraid and well paid. I chose the latter. At some point, you have to be more afraid of not trying than you are of failing. ~ Carrie Wilkerson”

“Never, never, never give up.”

“To live an extraordinary life, you must resist the ordinary.” ~ Frank Mckinney

“Most miss opportunity because it shows up in overalls and looks a lot like work.” ~ Ben Franklin

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Those quotes were just nibbles, I could add a slew more!

This past weekend I spent time going through Carrie’s websites, videos, blog etc. and I must say I was impressed. Impressed but still skeptical, but only because that is my nature. I am impressed because in some ways she echoes what I have heard in the past but Carrie has more credibility than the others. Carrie has made her money. She’s been on CNN, Forbes, Lifetime.com, Success and others. She’s established herself as an expert and I want to learn from her. There are not too many business books I go ga-ga over but I have gone ga-ga over The Barefoot Executive.

If you have ever been waiting, waiting, waiting for something and then it was all of a sudden right in front of you, wouldn’t you be in relieved? Excited? That’s me. I feel like this book was written specially for me at this time in my life.

You may learn more about Carrie and her book at http://BarefootExecutiveBook.com/

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.


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