I love ME! Sponsor: Savvy Rest

One of the foundations of good health (and therefore a staple for finding love for ourselves), is getting plenty of good quality sleep each night!  Savvy Rest understands this, and they have created a line of organic bedding to support good sleep and green living in one!

Savvy Rest has a full line of products; you can get everything from a natural mattress to bedding to pillows!  They're all organic, they're all natural latex and they all look beautiful!  Savvy Rest decided to send me a Shredded Latex Pillow for review!

The Shredded Latex Pillow by Savvy Rest is customizable.  I really like that feature!  It comes super thick...about 8 inches thick, in fact!  I'm sure there are some people that link their pillows this thick, but I am not one of them.  There are two zippers on the Shredded Latex Pillow, one on the "case" and one on the pillow itself.  Inside the inner zipper, there is tons and tons of shredded latex, just as you'd expect!

You simply open up the pillow and remove as much or as little shredded latex as you need to make the pillow perfectly comfortable for you!

I removed a lot - a LOT - of latex from my pillow.  In fact, I stuffed a 2 gallon zippered bag FULL of the latex shreds I removed! 

The biggest problem I had with this process was that it was MESSY!  Thankfully I had the vacuum cleaner nearby.  In the future, I think I would put down some paper or something on which to make my adjustments.

I L-O-V-E my Savvy Rest Shredded Latex Pillow!  I love that I can squish the latex around each night so that my head and neck are supported just the way I like!  I did this with my old pillow, but it didn't take long for the pillow to become misshapen and lumpy.  With the Savvy Rest Shredded Latex Pillow, my head is comfy and my neck is supported.  The pillow is heavy, but that doesn't cause a problem at all!

You'll LOVE the customization you can get with the Savvy Rest Shredded Latex Pillow!

You'll especially love the customization if you win one (an $89 value) from my blog during the I love ME! event that will go live at midnight tonight!  (While you wait, why not take a minute to follow Savvy Rest on facebook and Google+?)

I love ME! Sponsor: Kalso Earth

Did you know that one of the most important things we can do to take care of our bodies is to wear good, properly fitting shoes?  It's true!  Different shoes "work" different way, support our feet in different ways, align our spines in different ways.  One comany, Kalso Earth Shoes, recognizes that "traditional" shoes are not made to properly support and align our spines.  They've created a whole new shoe design with a "negative heel" that sets the heel slightly lower than the rest of the foot, aligning your spine properly and supporting a healthy walk!

Kalso Earth Shoes is just introducing their spring line!

SO many of their shoes are super cute!  I love these:

I've been looking for new "gym" shoes, and wondered what Kalso Earth could do to help with that.  I found the Prosper in their new spring line and fell in love with the look!  Don't they look comfy?

 

I received the Prosper in red and taupe.  I think they're really cute!  I love that they are fairly narrow.  I can snug them up pretty tightly around my feet, which is great!  I LOVE the elastic at the heel!  It makes them SO comfortable!  These shoes, I am not kidding, are THE lightest weight shoes I have ever held in my hands.  They're so comfortable to wear!  I really liked the way they felt the minute I put them on!

I have worn the Kalso Earth Shoes a few times when I have done Zumba.  They were comfortable for class, but because they have round laces, they don't stay tied tightly enough for my taste during exercise.  (This is kind of a pet peeve of mine.  I don't think ANY shoes should have round laces.)

I REALLY like the Prosper by Kalso Earth Shoes!  If your feet are wide, I'm not sure how comfortable they'll be for you.  I think they're a little on the narrow side (which is perfect for me)!  If round laces are an issue for you, buy yourself a pair of cheap laces at the stoe and get these shoes anyway!  They're great.  I wouldn't probably choose them as my favorite workout shoes, but I definitely prefer them for every day!

Kalso Earth Shoes would like to give away a pair of Prosper shoes, valued at $119, to one lucky reader during the I love ME! giveaway, which will start at midnight tonight!  Be watching, it's a HUGE giveaway!  (While you wait, why not follow Kalso Earth Shoes on facebook and twitter?)

I was given this product at no cost to me in order to facilitate a review.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.

I love ME! Spotlight: EatSmart Scales

I've been very intrigued, along with my diet changes and fitness successes, by cookbooks and recipes that are listed by weights rather than "amounts."  I've long wondered just how much of each food I'm eating, and sometimes I just need to know, say, how much a Barbie weighs!

Thank goodness for EatSmart and their amazing Precision Retro Mechanical Kitchen Scale!

It's been a real eye-opener to see just how much I am eating in a meal!  I eat a fruit smoothie almost every morning.  I don't limit my amount of fruit in my smoothie...in fact, I tend to load it up!  I know that's a lot of carbohydrates, but they're healthy carbs.  I also sometimes add beans to my smoothies!  This particular day, I had a very yummy fruity smoothie with great northern beans.  It weighed a pound before it was blended!

(I did zero out the scale with the wax paper in it so I could be sure to get an accurate measurement.)

I LOVE the EatSmart Precision Retro Mechanical Kitchen Scale when making recipes that call for foods by weight!  When I made broccoli cheese soup, it called for a pound and a half of broccoli!  I was SURE that my 2 head of broccoli would be more than enough, but it wasn't!  Two heads of broccoli measured just over a pound!

The EatSmart Precision Retro Mechanical Kitchen Scale is a very nice, high quality metal scale!  It's super easy to wash, easy to set up, and works great!  I recommend this scale for anyone that is looking at portion control options or likes to cook by weight!

EatSmart has been doing something amazing lately, besides just selling great products.  Each month, they donate a bit of money to a certain charity or organization.  Last year, customers and fans were able to choose about half of the organizations.  This year, they're allowing customers and fans to choose all of the organizations!  For the month of February, EatSmart will be donating 50 cents for each new Google+ follower, to the organization of MY choosing!  I've chosen the National MS Society.  Click here to find out why!  The click over to Google+ and follow EatSmart!  Your 30 seconds will donate 50 cents to the National MS Society!

EatSmart is going to give away a Precision Retro Mechanical Kitchen Scale to one of my super lucky readers in the I love ME! giveaway!  The scale is valued at $39.95.  The giveaway starts at midnight tonight!  Be watching!  (Just for fun, follow EatSmart on facebook and twitter while you're waiting for the giveaway!)

I was given this scale at no cost in order to facilitate a review.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.

I love ME! Spotlight: Happy Herbivore

One of the steps I've taken this year, one that has greatly impacted how I feel about myself, has been changing my diet.  My family has always been very carnivorous.  Not only are were we major meat-eaters, but we had bread, pasta, potatoes, corn...something starchy at every. single. meal.  At home, now, we eat a mostly vegetarian diet.  (I'd say mostly vegan, but who am I kidding?  There's never a day when there isn't cheese in my fridge, and rarely a day when there isn't cheese in at least one meal.)  This dietary change has made a huge impact on my weight and the way I feel!  I digest my food differently now!  It's been truly amazing.

The problem with making a huge change to your diet, though, is that you also have to change your meal plans.  You have to use totally different recipes.  A few of your old ones can be adapted with beans and other substitutes, but many of your favorites are just no longer options.  If you're like me, having 5 or 6 "favorite" meals isn't going to cut it.  You need to have a recipe pool so you won't eat the same foods every week.

I asked Lindsay, the Happy Herbivore, to help me come up with some more recipe ideas, and boy did she ever!  Lindsay is the author and mastermind behind two veggie-based cookbooks, each with over 175 recipes, and has a 3rd book in progress!  She spends her days in the kitchen creating.  It's a passion for her!  Lindsay has begun converting her family and friends to plant-based diets in an effort to better their health. 

Lindsay's first book, The Happy Herbivore, hit the shelves in February of 2011.  It's filled with comfort foods made with everyday ingredients.  These recipes are made using whole, unprocessed, low-fat foods!  They're perfect for my whole foods, plant-based diet!  The meals are yummy, although sometimes spicier than my family likes. 

In December of 2011, Lindsay released her second cookbook, Everyday Happy Herbivore!  This is, so far, my favorite of the Happy Herbivore books.  Almost every recipe we've tried, and we've tried a lot, has come from this book.  The recipes are super easy and a LOT of them can be made in 30 minutes or less!  Right now timeliness isn't a huge issue, but if I had a job it would be so important to me to be able to make quick, healthy meals for my family!

The recipes are simple, yummy, and they even look tasty!

(Tex Mex Shepherd's Pie, Everyday Happy Herbivore)

(Smoky Black Bean Enchiladas, The Happy Herbivore)

If you're looking to change your diet, lose weight, or even just add some yummy foods into your diet to change things up a bit, I highly recommend looking into the Happy Herbivore cookbooks!  (They are even on sale at amazon.com right now!)  There are also several free recipes and some other healthy advice on Lindsay's website, www.happyherbivore.com!

 Guess what?  One of my lucky readers is going to receive a set of BOTH of these cookbooks, a total value of $39.90, in the I love ME! giveaway, which starts at midnight tonight!  You'll LOVE these!  (Oh, and just for fun, visit Happy Herbivore on facebook and twitter!)

I was given these cookbooks at no cost to me in order to facilitate a review.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.

I love ME! spotlight: Liv

It's a bit of a touchy subject, this cancer thing.  Breast cancer is a dirty word in a lot of circles.  Ladies, it's real.  It's devastating.  It could happen to you or a loved one.  Breast cancer doesn't pick and choose its victims kindly.  The most common cause of breast cancer is being a woman.  If you're a woman, take note!  There are websites out there to help you perform self breast exams and to give you information about breast cancer awareness.  liv is one such site!

 

Olivia Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992.  That same weekend, her father died from cancer.  Olivia underwent a partial mastectomy and breast reconstruction.  Olivia has been cancer free for more than 17 years.

It is because Olivia Newton-John's experience with cancer (her own and her father's) that she has decided to take breast cancer awareness into her own "hands," so to speak.  It is because my family's history that I think it's so important for all women to perform self breast exams.

Almost 26 years ago, my dear sweet aunt passed away because of breast cancer.  Another of my amazing aunts is a breast cancer survivor.  In my family, as well as yours, it is so very very important to not only be aware of the symptoms but to be active in watching for them!

The liv breast self exam aid is made to help you examine your breast tissue.  It's a heart-shaped pad filled with a non-toxic lubricant.  When placed on the breast, the liv reduces the friction between your fingers and your skin, allowing your fingers to glide more easily across your breast and more clearly feel any abnormalities!

Every woman should perform a breast self exam once a month.  As you get used to performing these monthly exams, you'll be able to better tell whether there have been any changes in your tissue.  Here, from the liv website, is a summary of what to watch for in your exams:

Breast Changes to Watch for During a Breast Self-Exam

• Any new lump or hard knot found in the breast or underarm
• Any lump or thickening that does not shrink or lessen after your next period
• Any change in the size, shape or symmetry of your breast
• A thickening or swelling of the breast
• Dimpling, skin irritation or other change in the breast skin or nipple
• Redness or scaliness of the nipple or breast skin
• Nipple discharge (fluid coming from your nipples other than breast milk), particularly if the discharge is bloody, clear and sticky, dark and occurs without squeezing your nipple
• Nipple retraction: turning or drawing inward or pointing in a new direction

If you find any of these changes, Dr. Bodai advises you to see your health care provider as soon as possible for a clinical evaluation. It is important to keep in mind that most breast lumps women find, as Olivia Newton-John’s early ones, are normal. So, don’t be afraid to get to know your body and to follow up with your doctor.

Friends, I love each and every one of you, whether I know you or not.  I beg you to take your health into your own hands.  Begin (if you don't already) performing monthly breast exams.  Begin having an annual clinical breast exam.  Don't let any more time go by before you take control.  What are you waiting for?

  It’s time to LIV.

 Olivia Newton-John wants to be sure every woman is performing their monthly exams!  To help one of you with this essential task, liv is including one liv aid, a $19.95 value, in my "I love ME!" package!  (Just for fun, follow live on facebook and twitter!)  After all, what better way to show--me--that I love me than to take the best possible preventative care of my own body??

I was provided this product at no cost in order to facilitate a review.  All opinions are my own.

"I love ME" Spotlight: Hazelaid

One of the quickly growing baby trends of today is Baltic Amber Teething Necklaces.  So many babies (mine included) are wearing them night and day to help repel or remove the negative effects of teething.  If you haven't tried baltic amber, you're likely a skeptic.  I know I sure was!  Even if you've put a baltic amber teething necklace on your child and seen the reduction of teething symptoms, you're likely (as I was) to think that you just have an easy teether.

I was like you.  I really was!  And then I discovered a simple little, well-kept secret.  Wanna hear it?  Shhh, don't tell anyone.  Are you ready?  It works!  Okay, okay, it's not really a secret.  In fact, I shout it loud and proud to anyone who will listen.  Baltic Amber is for real!  It works!  How do I know?  I've been wearing a baltic amber teething necklace for several months now!  It's true.  Usually I wear it around my neck.  Sometimes I double it and wear it as a bracelet.  The trouble is, although even wearing a necklace helps, most of my chronic pain is in my legs.  It's never made sense to me to wear a necklace to make my legs feel better.  It helps, that's for sure, but I've always wondered whether an anklet would be more beneficial.

When I started putting together my package for the "All for Love" blog event, I knew right away I wanted to focus on "ME" because that's where my focus has been all year.  I tried to think of products that have benefited me in my quest for health, and kept coming back to baltic amber.  My mind immediately went to a great company with whom my sister has worked, Hazelaid!

Hazelaid was born when the family's 3rd child was born with severe eczema.  Their search to find something...anything...to help led them to hazelwood jewelry.  After seeing the difference the jewelry made in ALL the family's sensitive skin, they started their own company to share hazelwood, baltic amber, and other natural remedies with the world!

I received a 20" Super Butter Baltic Amber Teething Necklace from Hazelaid to try!

Baltic amber looks like little stones or beads, but it's actually made from natural resin.  As the body warms the resin, it releases oils that are known world-wide (and have been for centuries) as a natural pain reliever.  Why don't we use this more commonly in the US? 

It is commonly believed that the lighter the color of the amber, and the less polished it is, the more powerful its healing medicine.  I chose Super Butter from Hazelaid for this very reason, and chose a 20" chain so it would easily wrap twice around my ankle.  (Hazelaid has anklets in several colors/styles, but sadly not in the Super Butter.)  The necklace fits loosely twice around, with no threat of coming loose because of the plastic screw closure!  It looks cute, and it helps with my leg pain immensely!

Friends, if you haven't before, please consider baltic amber as a significant source of pain relief!  Consider, also, Hazelwood for your eczema and other skin conditions!  You'll be SO excited about the results, and you'll love that you're not putting so many man-made chemicals into your body!  When you consider using these products, please consider Hazelaid!  They're a great company with a great purpose and amazing products!

Hazelaid is SO generous, they're not only sponsoring a $25 gift code giveaway as part of the All for Love: I love ME! event, they're also willing to give each of you a 10% discount on your purchases!  Check them out today!  At checkout, simply enter the code "Life10"...the code has NO maximum number of uses (use it over and over!) and no expiration!   (Just for fun, why don't you visit Hazelaid on facebook and twitter while you're waiting for the giveaway?)

Enjoy!!

I was provided with this item at no cost in order to facilitate a review.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.

Wordless Wednesday: Crusts are GROSS!

Champions for Kids. Be one of millions.

I did the math, and it makes my heart sad.

There were 50,641 households in 2010 in the county in which I live, made up of a total of 131,642 people.  (I did the research.)  Of those 50, 641 households, 31.1%, roughly 15,749 households, contain children under the age of 18.  25.9 % of the county's population, about 34,095 in total, were age 19 and under.  That's an average of 2.2 children per house in a household, in the households that have children.

In 2010, 6,055 of the households in my county were food stamps recipients.  People, that's 12% of the households.  Of those households, 50.2% had children under 18.  Let's pretend, just for a minute, each of the families with children who receive food stamps have exactly 2.2 children, the county average.  What that would mean is that approximately 6687 children, in MY county...in MY neighborhood...have meals subsidized by food stamps!  

Six thousand, six hundred, eighty-seven children in MY backyard are "food insecure," and probably even more!  

What's more, there are tons more kids, I'm sure, in my neighborhood, in my county, in this country, who either don't have access to nutritious foods, either by chance, by choice, or by lack of education!  That breaks my heart.  Kids, whether they have food available or not, are starving - starving! - because what they are putting into their bodies isn't healthy!

I can't find any solid evidence to tell me what the childhood obesity rates are in my county, but I'm sure they're high.  Why am I sure?  Because the national adult obesity rate is currently (in 2011) is 25%, and in my county that rate is a soaring 32%!  People, a third of the adults in my county are obese, and I can just about guarantee you that problem didn't start for most of them the minute they turned 19.  

Children around our country, despite there being more than enough nutritious food for all of us, are starving nutritionally because of the choices they are making and the situations in which their families are finding themselves, and I think that's tragic!

~~~~~~~

I have partnered with Abbott Nutrition #AbbottCFK and become "One of Millions"...one of millions becoming Champions for Kids  #Championsforkids and working to fight back against the nutrition tragedy in our nation!  I've got to be honest with you, this started for me as a campaign to get my kids involved a little in the community and earn a little money. #CBias  It's become SO much more than that in my heart, already, though.  So very much more.  I just have to roll around in my head what exactly it'll mean!

Champions for Kids exists to mobilize MILLIONS of people by providing training and resources to improve the lives of children in communities across America and beyond. Our goal is to mobilize 20 Million people by 2020. 

My kids and I went shopping over the weekend to buy some Abbott Nutrition brand snacks to create some snack packs for kids who need them.  We went to our local Walmart to do our shopping.

I'd done some research ahead of time and had a pretty good idea of what kinds of snacks we'd buy.

Since I took a couple of boys with me, we had the chance to play a little "nutritious/not nutritious" game while we were deciding on what exactly to purchase!

We finally decided to stick with snacks from the Abbott Nutrition line.

We bagged up our snacks and delivered them, last night, to our children's pastor, Pastor Gayle! 

Pastor Gayle was excited to receive the snacks and said there are children, even in our church, who could use the nutritious snacks!  Little Lou was so excited to take the snack packs to church because not only does she love Pastor Gayle, but she had a sense of "knowing" where those snacks were going!  Pastor Gayle said she'd looked at the Champions for Kids website through the link I'd sent her, and she was very intrigued by it.  She's planning to do some more research, and is considering adding some Champions for Kids ideas into the Wednesday night curriculum!  

~~~~~~

People, our snack bags will provide a couple of kids with a couple of snacks, but sadly they can't provide snacks for ALL the kids in our area, and they certainly can't provide the education the families need to eat a healthy diet daily...OR the resources for some of the families to do so!  

That's where we all come in.  Champions for Kids is an amazing program!  Please check out the website.  Read some of the "SIMPLE Service Project" ideas.  Pick one or make one up.  Get out there and DO something.  There are children all around us that need our help.  

Won't you become One of Millions?  Won't you become a Champion for Kids?

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

All for Love - I love ME!

 

Happy (almost) February, friends!  You know what (almost) February means, don't you?  It means (almost) Valentine's Day!  It means (almost) mushy-gushy-sappy-lovey day!  It means (almost) eat so much chocolate you could puke day!

That's right, folks.  For years and years, February has been all about love.

I'm pretty sure most of you automatically think of romantic love when you think of Valentine's Day.  Who wouldn't?  We're all sort of indoctrinated into the Valentine's Day lovey-dovey hype from the time we hand out Valentine's Day cards in grade school.  All of the cards we see in stores remind us of the mushiness of this time of year.  We all LOVE love, don't we?

This year, though, I have put a new spin on...well, life.  I've taken my own life back under control (and given it more fully to God, but that's a whole different story).  I've made me a priority, and I've been learning to love ME!  That's why, this year, as a part of this year's "All for Love" blog event, I have decided to theme my own blog

I love ME!

Over the next week you'll be reading about the products I'll be giving away the first week of February as a part of the All for Love blog event!  You'll want to pay attention this week!  I'll be showing you all the AMAZING sponsors I have for my (over $300!!) prize package!  You won't want to miss out!

For now?  I want you to make a promise to me.  Promise me that, over the next month, you'll find one way, just one, that you can begin to show yourself love!  It'll make a difference in your life.  I promise!

Family Game Night with Wipeout 2 Wii!!

I am ALL about cheap family entertainment, and my hubby loves video games!  We are SO in love with the video game rental feature from http://www.redbox.com! 

This weekend we purchased a new (to us) car!  What better way to celebrate this new phase in life than with a family game night, right?  When we were back in town, Redbox and Con Agra from Walmart were ready to provide our snacks and entertainment!  #CouchCritics

We decided to rent Wipeout 2 for the Wii as our game night game.  It is rated E10+, and our kids are 4 and 6 (and 1...but he doesn't play video games).  We read some reviews about it and didn't think it sounded like there was any content that was to questionable, and it didn't look all that difficult, so we decided to go for it!

We grabbed some Con Agra snacks...Swiss Miss pudding cups, Orville Redenbacher popcorn, and Swiss Miss hot chocolate, and we were ready to go!

The kids LOVED the game! 

They loved it so much, in fact, that the grown-ups never had a chance to play!  (I think daddy got a few turns in, but mommy didn't get to touch the wii remotes once...other than to get games going for the kids!)

They loved the snacks, too!  Bugsy especially loved the Swiss Miss pudding, although he's a BIG chocolate fan! 

I love hot chocolate, and Swiss Miss in by far my favorite, so I was in heaven with my choice!

The Redbox is easy.  It's fun to have a cheap ($2!) video game night with the kids.  It's also fun to get a cheap grown-up blu-ray video ($1.50) for after the kids go to bed!  Con Agra foods made the perfect snacks on the side!

Thanks, Redbox and Con Agra, for helping us enjoy an evening IN!

(Be sure to follow Redbox on twitter and facebook to keep up with their latest news!)


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

Champions for Kids

I go to the grocery every week.  I buy a full cart of groceries every week.  I buy tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and occasionally lean meats.  We leave every meal with bellies full of nutritious, (usually) delicious, home-cooked food.  We've never gone a day without food.  We've never gone a day without HEALTHY food (unless by choice).  We've never wondered where we would get our next meal.  If for some reason we couldn't afford healthy food, I'm confident our families would help us out...in fact, they have helped us!  We've been so blessed.

I am reminded every week as I unload my car full of groceries that there are millions of people...MILLIONS...in our own country that don't have food.  There are people in our own state...our own town...our own NEIGHBORHOOD that don't have enough to eat.  There are people that have full bellies, but are still starving because they aren't getting the nutrients they need.  It's humbling and saddening to have that weekly reminder!

Did you know that more than 16 million children in the United States are food insecure?  Did you know that 17% of the nations adolescents, age 2-18, are obese?  1 out of 7 low-income preschoolers are obese as well.  These children have food to eat, but either by necessity or by choice, they don't have the nutritious foods they need to help their bodies thrive.

Abbott Nutrition is on a mission to help solve the nutrition dilemma in our country!  They're asking you to find out about the nutrition needs of your community by interviewing teachers, social workers, doctors, etc!  They're asking you to talk to your family and friends about nutritious snacks and their benefits! They're asking you to donate nutritious snack products to local organizations so kids in your community can eat healthy food, if even for just one snack!  They're asking YOU to be "One of Millions" and become a Champion for Kids!

Here at My This N That Life, we're partnering with Abbott Nutrition #AbbottCFK and Collective Bias #CBias to create a snack pack and donate to our local church!  Little Lou is super excited to shop for a snack pack this week and take it to Pastor Gail, the children's pastor at our church!  While our family can't provide snacks for all of the hungry children in our area, we might just be able to make an impact for one.  If we can only make an impact in one kid, that's okay.  EVERY kid counts!!

Please consider joining us in the fight against Hunger!  Visit Abbott Nutrition's Champions for Kids site to find out how!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  All opinions are my own.

Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches After the Game!

Moms with kids (which is, by the way, pretty much all moms) are an inherently busy group of people!  The kids are busy, too!  Sometimes the kids are busy AND hungry!

Basketball runs for 9 weeks between the beginning of November and the end of January!  It's great fun.  The girls LOVE it and the parents love seeing the girls learn new skills!

This week was basketball Saturday!  Little Lou's age group plays ball from 1-2:30.  They practice from 1-1:45 and then play a game.  This week was also my nephew Cracker's 2nd birthday party!  It was scheduled for 4:00 Saturday, an hour away!  When basketball was over, Little Lou was sweaty and hungry, but we needed to get to that party.

Enter, Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches!

We rushed home after the game finished and Little Lou and I ran into the house.  She changed into "play clothes" and I went into "make a quick snack" mode.  Tyson made it easy-peasy!  We had a box of Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches in the freezer.  These little sandwiches cook up in just under 2 minutes!  I made 2 packages of them in under 5 minutes while Little Lou changed and we were out the door!

Stinky won't eat sandwiches, so I cut his up into bite sized pieces.

The "big kids" were excited to eat their chicken sandwiches (they LOVE Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches!) and they were also excited to eat in the car!  (Mommy is a stickler for keeping food out of car seats!)  Check out the rest of the story here.

Thanks to Tyson, we were able to make it to the party just in time!  Happy Birthday, Crackers!

Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches are a fantastic "after the game" snack!  They cook up quickly and are packed with just enough protein and carbohydrates to keep your little ones (or big ones!) moving!  They're a favorite around here, that's for sure, and they will be at your house as well!

Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches are available at many Walmart stores!  Check today to see if they're available at yours! 

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

~ Thirteen Years Later ~

Thirteen years ago today he pulled me into the living room (I think that's what you call the one that you don't ever actually use, right?  And the one that gets used is the family room?) at his parents' house.  He sat me down in the rocking chair, looked me in the eye, took my hands in his (cold) ones, and said these words which I will never ever forget: "Will you be my girl?"

It'd been a long time coming.  There were some obstacles in the way.  We'd been friends for about a year.  We'd talked on the phone daily-or more-for months.  We'd spent hours and hours together at church events, family events, each others' houses.  We'd been on a real date, even!  

I said, "Sure."

True story.

I probably giggled a little.  I remember he kissed me.  Then we went back to the family room (living room?) and watched a movie with his parents.  And then I went home.  End of story.

Well, not really.

Not long later we both had to decide on colleges.  We chose the same school.  For two years we took nearly every class together, and those we didn't (ummm...calculus, in particular) he tutored me through in the evenings.  I figured if he could love me during 4 hours of crying calculus every evening, he could probably love me through everything.

Two years later, he transferred to another college 800 miles away.  We dealt with that.  I figured if he could love me from 800 miles away, he could probably love me through anything.

People, it's been 13 years.  Thirteen!  And we've been through...well, just about everything.  It feels like it, anyway.  Some days, it feels more like it than others, that's for sure.  We've experienced both life and death.  Sickness and health.  Richer and poorer.  Hot and cold.  We've been there.  

And I'm pretty sure he still loves me.

I like that about him.

Thanks for a (mostly) great 13 years!  Here's to another 13...and another...and another...and another after that.  I love you.  Forever!

I can't wait to see what giant plans God has coming for us!

For Women Only: Diva Cup Review and Giveaway

If you're a man, avert your eyes.  Turn away.  Now.

I'll give you time.

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Are you still here?  I told you to turn away!

Here...go look at tools or something...

Tools for men to drool over while I chat about something girly

Okay, well, that's about the best I can do.  If you're a man and you're still here, consider yourself warned!

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The Diva Cup, my friends!

This isn't the menstrual cup your mama used.  It's not the menstrual cup your grandma used, either! (Did you know the first menstrual cups were introduced in the 1930s?  Seriously, your grandma may well have given one a try!)  Nope.  The Diva Cup has re-designed menstrual cups.  It's modernized them.  And it's been done by a mother/daughter team working to create a more reliable menstrual option than pads and tampons!

When menstrual cups were introduced in the 30s, they were made of latex, a common allergen.  Next came a rubber/latex version, which only lasted about 10 years.  In 2003, the Diva Cup, a medical-grade silicone menstrual cup, was introduced by mother Francine and her daughter Carinne!  This medical-grade menstrual cup is the one still available today.

The Diva Cup is soft and pliable, and when inserted correctly can't be felt at all!   (A side note: I use mine inside out.  I don't know if Diva Cup supports this method or not.  I don't like the stem of it, though, but am perfectly comfortable with the inside out cup!)

The Diva Cup holds an ounce of fluid.  It can be worn for up to 12 hours without being removed!  (Side note: I remove it every time I use the bathroom.  I'm just weird like that.)  It's totally a personal preference thing, though!

The Diva Cup can be worn during any type of activity!  There's not much you can't do while wearing a Diva Cup!  You can sleep with it, run with it, swim with it...  (Side note: I don't wear it when I Zumba.  I'm a wimp and am always afraid it'll slip when I'm jumping around.)


The Diva Cup comes in 2 sizes: Size one for women under 30 who have never given birth, and size 2 for women over 30 and/or women who have given birth.  There's not much of a difference in sizes, so don't think you're going to graduate to something enormous just because you had a birthday (or a baby).  They're just made to fit the widening hip joints of maturing women, that's all.  (Nice to know that when you hit 30 you're automatically "mature," huh?  That's my word, not Diva's, by the way.)

People, I said I'd never EVER use a menstrual cup because they're nasty.  (I also said I'd never use mama cloth, but...ahem...)  I don't know what I was thinking!  Not a month goes by that I don't use the silicone contraption!  If you haven't tried one, try it.  I can't promise you'll love it, and I'm not going to go into tons of detail about why I love it (you'll figure that out on your own), I'm just speaking from experience here, though, when I say I think you'll like it much better than the alternatives!

If you'd like to give the Diva Cup a try, you can look here for a list of retailers or here to purchase one online!

If you'd rather WIN one, enter on the Rafflecopter form below!


I received this product at no cost to me in order to facilitate a review.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.