Friday, August 24, 2012

GLADE EXPRESSIONS® (I'm a BzzAgent)




I'm a Bzzagent So when I got an invite to the Glade Expressions campaign this morning I jumped on the opportunity to try these new products. I love when my home smells good, but it's honestly not always easy with a 65 gallon aquarium with 2 bratty turtles sitting in my living room. Trust me, no matter how good the filter is, it's always going to have some kind of odor. I have a scented oil plug in right under the aquarium to keep the odor at bay and it works very well, but sometimes I'm a little iffy about what kind of fragrance to use in my home.

Glade is here to solve that problem, they create their scents without the use of harmful ingredients:

What’s NOT Inside Matters Even More
If we wouldn’t want it for our family, we wouldn’t ask you to use it near yours. We’ve excluded more than 1,500 potential ingredients from our fragrance ingredients palette. Using our palette, SC Johnson does not formulate its products with:
Alkylphenols (APs)
Alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs)
Diacetyl
Formaldehyde
Nitro musks
Peanut or tree nut derived ingredients
Phthalates including DEP, DBP, DIBP, DPP and DEHP
Or any known carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins listed by the U.S. National Toxicology Program, the European Union’s REACH and Substances of Very High Concern programs, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Carcinogens, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Stylish new oil diffusers that release long-lasting, true-to-life scents
Glade Expressions® Oil Diffuser releases a combination of long-lasting fragrances, without the hassle of electricity. The oil diffuser infuses layers of true-to-life scents throughout even the most open living spaces. The trendy holder matches décor perfectly, making it a convenient and stylish home-fragrancing option.

Glade Expressions® Fragrance Mist comes in a new stylish holder that releases a longer-lasting, finer mist of fragrance. The gentle mist creates layers of true-to-life fragrance that opens up note by note. The chic, newly designed holder blends with your décor for a burst of fragrance that’s always out and available. Just squeeze to spray; then refill the holder with your favorite fragrance.

I'm really excited to get my BzzKit and try out these great new products :)

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Almond Milk- make it yourself, it's easy & healthy!

@g33kgurrl This one's for you :)

Last week I made my own almond milk.  Inspired by my friend Shelly I asked her how she did it and she sent me the link to the one she uses @ FoodMonkey.  

I measured the almonds

Put them in an airtight container and added the water

After soaking overnight

This is where I had to make my own rules, because right now I only have the stick blender until I get the part I need for my blender and I don't have a juicer.. But I blended up the soaked almonds and water

Then I strained it through a fine mesh strainer

and Viola! Almond Milk!
When I was finished I added a little home made vanilla and agave.   I add it to my green smoothie in the morning and it's really good.  It's easy to make not to mention healthier and cheaper than the stuff you buy in the grocery store.

Thanks again Shelly for sharing this with me  :) you're such a great inspiration to help me eat healthier and teach the kid also :) ♥

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Wordless Wednesday




(Okay, a few words. I didn't make the cake, my cousins friend did. I made chocolate chip cookie dough filled cupcakes. The cupcakes were way better though according to everyone who had one.  I have to make another batch and I will share my recipe.)

Next Birthday:  My Godson's 1st birthday :)

Monday, August 13, 2012

Yes, I actually did this...


Because I like to torture myself, or to better phrase this Push myself past the limits I give myself, I volunteered to make a pinata for my nephew’s 2nd birthday party this weekend.  This is going to be a Yo Gabba Gabba themed party.  My choice of creature for this Pinata is Muno


I did some research online... making a pinata can’t be too hard.. Make a skeleton out of posterboard and some balloons and paper-mache it making sure to leave a trap door in the back to fill the sucker with candy.

I started this on Tuesday night by building the body

Wednesday night I did the first layer of paper-mache and left it in front of a big fan to dry overnight






Thursday night I did the second layer around the body and added the arms and head




Friday I glued sheets of red tissue paper to the body to cover up the newspaper and then proceeded to hot glue strips of crepe paper all around the body.  By the time I was finished it was 11:30, my thumb and index fingers were burnt and blistered and I was exhausted. 


Saturday morning I had the kid cut the eye out (which was, according to my cousin a little too big but oh well it was good enough since I'm not a regular watcher of yo gabba gabba) and I made the mouth and then glued them on, carefully put him in the back of my truck and went on our way to my cousin's to prepare for the party that was yesterday.



The Pinata waited patiently until we stuffed him with candy and taped him shut and then they tied him up and hung him from the balcony.

He took a good beating before the candy came spilling out, but the kids had fun and I think my nephew is a little traumatized from the experience of seeing his friend Muno get the candy beat out of him.

Will I do this again?  Yup.  It was fun.  It was a LOT of work and next time I'll use construction paper taped together for the body instead of the posterboard.  Posterboard was too strong even though I paper mache'd over it.  This was a Huge Pinata standing a good 4' tall when he was finished.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Sometimes I'm a slacker

I have all these great blog posts in my head because I cook every night (someone's gotta feed this kid).  But I always seem to have something else to get done first and so the blogging gets set aside for another day and then I totally forget about what I was going to write.  There are countless pics of food in my camera with no blog post to go along with them.

I've been getting a ton of fresh veggies from my Landlord.  Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and last night he gave me a few pears from the tree in the garden.  Now that's a picture that I need to share with y'all.  The garden is amazing!

I'm not a huge fan of raw tomatoes so I've been roasting most of them, some go in salad and some go into grilled cheese.  I need to get myself a good recipe for sun dried tomatoes because I'm fairly certain that can be done in the oven too since I got rid of my dehydrator years ago.

I will post some recipes this week.  Sorry I've been slacking.... I hope you all still love me ♥