I am hooked

A Friend showed me these little gems a few weeks back and I LOVE them. They are frozen herbs and they pop out like ice cubes. We get them at Trader Joe's, I still used LOTS of fresh garlic but sometimes this is a better option.

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The best apple juice

Just in case you were wondering this is the BEST apple juice EVER and I don't like apple juice... that is all.

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I am in love

I found these at Trader Joes this week and they are wonderful. Just sweet enough with a little tart fruit middle. 3 or 4 will get ride of a sweet tooth

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HOT DOG!

 This past weekend Harrison had his first ever hot dog bun. Before he was Gluten Free He never had a hot dog that was not cut up (and I still cut it up really small). We get all his bread from Katz Gluten Free Bakery, we order it and it comes in a box to our door in a couple days and we throw it in the freezer. They recently started making Hot Dog buns so I ordered a pack for his birthday and pulled one out on labor day. He gave it a thumbs up!! But at $4+ for a pack of 4 he won't be getting them everyday. But for birthdays and cookouts they will be handy.

Looks what's new

I have an excited husband that we can have "real" or almost real rice krispies treats again. We have been using other cereal for the past 2 years so the treats would be gluten free but not anymore :) these are almost as good has the regular and even snap crackle and pop in milk.

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Best Gluten Free Pasta

This is the best gluten free pasta we have found.

Just Saying

This is the BEST store bought salsa!!!! I LOVE THIS I like it even better than my salsa but mine is a bit cheaper :)

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Ziploc Versa Glass

So Ziploc is not making these glass storage containers and I LOVE them. I am trying to get all the plastic our of my kitchen, Glass is safer for our food, and for the planet. Anyway I won't get on my soapbox but these are GREAT. They are with the other plastic storage containers right in the grocery store. My Kroger even had them 2 for $5 a couple weeks ago and I had $1 off coupons so for $1.50 I got some great glass dishes with tight lids (they are plastic)

A Few Of Our Favorite Things

My Busy Books.... these are SOOOOOO CUTE and kids LOVE them. I don't know about you but my child LOVES little figures etc. These have a book with box attacted with 10-12 small charatcher figures along with a play mat to play on. There are girl ones like princesses, my little ponies, etc, and there are ones for the boys too, thomas the train, Cars, Toy Story. We have the Toy Story, and Harrison will be getting the cars on for Easter. I have a friend that has several and her kids LOVE them too.

 Online they tend to be expensive, but you can find them at TJmaxx (my fave store) for $6-$9, my friend got some at walmart, and I ordered one from Barnes and Noble. So keep your eyes open, they are great fun.

I also LOVE this new yogurt, the peach, and strawberry I like the best, but they are GREAT you should try them.

A New Magazine

I got the first Magazine  of a new subscription for Clean Eating today. I LOVE IT!!! I want to try every recipe and I think I read every word in. It is GREAT... if you want to check it out go here http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/

Some GOOD Gluten Free products

 Here are a couple GREAT gluten free options. The above cream of chicken soup also comes in celery and  mushroom. There are about $2.50 each so I don't use them when I know it is something Harrison won't eat but it is GREAT to have this option again.

I have mentioned Pamela's products before but they area wonderful the cookie mix I actually like better than "regular" cookie mix.  I have lots of people that ask about the "cost" of gluten free which is not an option for us but for some looking at starting GF eating it is a concern. these mixes are about $6 each which is more than "regular" mixes but not out of the ball park.

Bath Time

 You never know what this kid is going to come up with. These are his "woodworking goggles" but they had to go to the bath today. These goggles also had to go with us to the store.

 We also found these the other day and Harrison thinks it is just great.  They are tablets in red, yellow, and blue. You put them in the tub and the water changes color. If you add two you can mix the colors. So if you put the red then the blue you have purple water. He LOVED these.

Some cool Online shopping

 I LOVE good deals and online shopping and here is two sites that have both. One Kings Lane http://www.onekingslane.com/invite/KellyParkhurst    I got these goodiessales that start everyday and they only have limited supplies so check often.KellyParkhurst

Zuliy is another site that works alot in the same way but it is focused on things Mom's would like, toys, baby stuff, games, books. I have not ordered anything yet, but Harrison is a bit big for most of thier goodies but they have some different things at good prices. http://www.zulily.com/invite/aparkhurst860

Paperoni

 Last week while Matthew was here for snow days I pulled out some Paperoni  that I had gotten on sale after Christmas. I  like having things on hand for times such as these. The boys like the activity and it was worth the couple dollars I spent since they used them for over an hour and we have lots left for another day. However I would not pay full price at least for little one. They are a little pricey but I found some great deals (like 75% off) after Christmas

 Here is a link to amazon.com but you can get them at Target, Wal-mart etc.



a few things I am LOVING

I like most of Method's products, we use the all purpose cleaner, Harrison uses the shampoo and soap, toilet bowl cleaner, etc etc. but nothing its as good as the Good for Wood floor cleaner and furniture cleaner. I LOVE them and they smell SO good.

I have this food processor and I use it and my kitchen aid stand mixer daily if not multiple times a day.

















I also learn to Love my Cricut more all the time and now I have figured out how to cute the vinyl, thanks to some friends help I a looking for all kinds of ways to use it.

Pamela's baking products are the BEST by far of the Gluten Free baking mixes.  The chocolate chips cookies are wonderful, I like better than any other chocolate chip cookie I have made. And anytime I need a cake or cupcakes I use their chocolate cake mix and follow the directions for the sour cream cake.

I also got the shark steam mop for Christmas and LOVE it. All but one room of our house has hard wood or tile so this is used a lot at my house. I feel like I get things clean and it drys super fast which is great with little ones running around.

Disappointed

So Harrison saw this Toy Story game set at Kohl's before Christmas and wanted it SO bad, but it was $40 so not on Mommy and Daddy's list. After Christmas however, it was on clearance for $9.99 and I had a 30% coupon so I ordered two  ( one for Harrison and one to have on hand for a fast birthday gift). I pulled it out yesterday during our snow day and the boys LOVED it but I was DISAPPOINTED. there were 6 games and 2 puzzles as described BUT they were very SMALL and very CHEAP. Ok for $6 but if I had paid fulled price I would have been upset.

Pottery Barn

I LOVE Pottery Barn (kids)!!!! Yes their prices are high and yes their goodies are not a necessity. But OH HOW CUTE!!! And when it comes to boy stuff, it is very hard to find CUTE, NOT TACKY, NON CHARACTER goods. Pottery Barn Kids Always has thing that fit the bill. Now you can get good deals with them too, I often check out their clearance goodies, and they have big in store sales twice a year, and I stock up then for birthday gifts etc. This year after Christmas I ordered this stocking for Harrison I think it was $9 not bad right. We did get a PBK table for his train table so it would grow with him and he can put chairs with it if we ever out grow trains. Now keep in mind this is the ONLY piece of furniture we have bought for the child ever so it was not that big of a spurge. When we got his table I ordered (from clearance) a bean bag bench for like $19 it had originally been $70 so another good deal.



We had the above star quilt on Harrison's toddle bed and it was washed two or three times a week and held up great. So last year for Christmas Harrison got a twin size red star quilt since we knew it held up well (and we did not have to change rugs, decor, or curtains, and we could change out "theme" cowboys, trains, sports easily). A few of the stars were starting to fray, which I have NEVER had an issue with from anything we have from PBK, but when you have a child that has sleeping issues you till to have to wash bedding a little more often :) if you get my drift. So I sent them an email just to see if there was any warranty etc. I thought maybe I would get a coupon for a % off or something at most. But NO a few days later with no Ifs, ands, or buts, an brand new quilt came in the mail!!! I LOVE POTTERY BARN, and now John won't ever fuss about the price again :)

new favorites

These are a a couple of my new fave kitchen tools. the little pan is very little. That is less than half a stick of butter in it. but it is GREAT for melting butter, cooking one egg, warming things up for Harrison ( I really try to not use the microwave much, and wish I had a toaster over so I did not need to use it at all). I also got the other tool ( I don't know what it is called) for a stocking stuffer but ended up keeping and glad I did. Yes it is one thing to wash but makes moving chopped veggies etc from the cutting board to the pan so easy.

some things we LOVE

We Love Melissa & Doug toys and puzzles http://www.melissaanddoug.com/ We have LOADS of their goodies. They are too cute, educational, and GREAT quality. We recently got the Nativity set and it is wonderful.

We also use the the chore above DAILY and we also recently got the calendar since Harrison is very concerned these days when something is going to happen. (I also have the clock put up for after Christmas)

We have lots of the smaller puzzles (which are wooden ) and the larger floor puzzles and two or three sets of wooden food. We LOVE MELISSA AND DOUG.

a few of my Faves

Since Harrison was born we have all been fabric softener free. When he was a baby any part of his body that touched fabric softener would break out, now only under his arms, under his toes etc break out. So we just did with out. BUT this Method Baby product does not break him out, does a great job and smells good and fresh

I have looked and looked and tried and tried non toxic dishwasher detergents. Since we all know I DO NOT HAND WASH DISHES. and I finally found one that does a great job, does not smell funny (which is an issue to me), and my dishes do not come out of the dishwasher with a yucky film on them. I actually found these at Big Lots a few weeks ago and bought a box, and LOVED THEM and went back to buy a few more. I have also seen these at Whole Foods and Target.

This is the BEST gluten free cake mix we have found. On the package one suggestion is to add sour cream and it is GREAT. I have even taken it places and people don't have a clue it is GF until I tell them. This is what Harrison's birthday cake will be made of this year. Now just because we found one that is great does not mean it is cheap. This mix is about $6 and is a bit smaller than a "normal" cake mix from the store (which is $1 - $2).