Grove Collaborative

I feel like I just skimmed over the grove.com site in last night's post. So tonight I want to tell you a little more about it.

As if they knew I was telling my friends about the site, I got an email this morning from Stu over at Grove Collaborative. They personalize with names so the emails don't seem like random mass mailings. I don't know if Stu exists, but we're going to pretend he does.

Anyway, Stu said that there is a VIP sale going on right now for 10-40% off because of Earth Day. I have my items already picked out for scheduled mailings at the beginning of the month, so I won't be participating in this sale.

Part of why shopping through Grove is so good for the Earth is because part of their mission is to help save the rain forests. With every VIP membership, they donate 100 square feet of rain forest they do a carbon offset for your shipment, too.

We've had one problem with my product coming in damaged, and they fixed it right away. When you sign up for the VIP program, you get connected with you own person on the staff. They even give you a text message, so when something ever comes up, you can just text and go. As the busier we get, texting is definitely the way to go with this family. There's usually some kind of noise happening that makes phone calls a dreaded thing. So when my one caddy came broken, I took a phone picture of it and texted to my personal "Grove Guide" and they let me keep it and refunded me the amount in credits plus a little more for inconveniencing me. They're also good at making sure I know my next shipment is coming before it ships in case I want to make any changes to it.

And this weekend, when you ship $49 or more in products, you will also receive a free Grove Collaborative Hand Cream. Pretty sweet deal to try something nice out for yourself and for the Earth.

And don't forget to use my referral link to receive a free $10 credit and 3 month trail of the VIP program, making trying new Earth-friendly stuff even easier on your wallet!

Click here for the referral link in case you couldn't see the hyperlinked texts above and read more about some of my favorite products here.

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

So, has anyone heard of grove.com yet? No? Let me tell you a little about it.

It's a site that offers free shipping for VIP members and great customer service (I know because I had to use it) on products that are good for the Earth. And good for the Earth, means good for us!

I've been battling acne pretty much my whole life. Pregnancies and birth control have sent my skin into a horrible downward spiral. I don't claim to have it figured out yet, but my skin seems to be getting better. My main switch is the addition of essential oils. Sounds backwards, but apparently they work.

I've been washing with Yes! brand charcoal soap. Then I add a few drops of both tea tree oil and clary sage oil to a pump of moisturizer twice a day. And don't forget to do whatever skin care regiment you do on your face to your declate and back of your hands, too. The skin in those areas often times get forgotten about even though they have similar sun exposure and skin thinness as your face. My skin is the best it's been in years.

What does any of this have to do with Earth Day?

The products I've been using have come from grove.com! Everything in this picture, except the clary sage oil. You can probably find all of this at Target, I know at least some of it is sold there, but why do that when you can use my referral link for a free $10 and 3 month trail of the VIP service? It is a referral link, so I'll get some to spend as well, but free's free.

Picture taken from product description on grove.com

And if you already have a skin routine that works for you, great! First of all, I'm jealous. Second, why not try wool dryer balls? I also have them from Grove, and love them. I usually just forgo the dryer sheets, but these help keep the lumps out of my bedding. And I wash bedding a LOT.

Whatever you chose to do, celebrate Earth Day by taking care of the earth. Even little step helps!

Dude, You're Getting A Dell

Hey guys! I didn't forget about you, I promise. I got a new toy. Came this week, so still trying to set it up. I got a laptop! In case you couldn't guess, it's a Dell. And I soo want to say "Adele".

Part of the big drop off in posts was due to big family changes. And part was due to lack of easy access to a computer. Kinda hard to type a blog post without one. We have a 21 inch all-in-one desktop that I got right at the beginning of this blogging adventure. It used to sit in my room, but has been moved and shifted through different rooms to make space for everything and everyone. As it turns out, it wasn't really the easiest thing to get to. Or use. That thing is huge.

The last few posts were from Brian's laptops. He has 2 for work. But they're for work and I hated to have to keep asking for one. So he said he's gonna get one for me. One so I can post, and edit pictures, and shop online....

So I got a Dell, and it's pretty. I have to learn it, since I'm so used to my phone. But as I do, I'll be able to start posting more.

I've already started some home "improvements" to tell you about. Pumpkin doesn't like it, and Sonny keeps telling me to "buy new one". Good thing it's my house :)

Modern Map Art

2 posts in one week?! I'm already beating last year's schedule record, by about 200%!

Remember in the last post I mentioned about product reviews? Here's your first one. It's pretty cool, too.

I was contacted awhile back, like maybe a month ago, by Jennifer from Modern Map Art asking if I would like a free print in exchange for a review. I actually hesitated. I couldn't just take time off from posting and then spam you all with product reviews. That's never been what this blog was about.

But I took a peek at the site. Then another. Then showed it to my husband. Then looked again.

I wanted to do this!

I don't know about you, but I hate buying things that I feel like I could do myself. Unless it's time vs. money. My husband is real big on saving time vs. money. But I've always thought prints, and art in general, are something that should represent yourself and style. Should be selected with care, or have some kind of memory attached to it. SOMETHING personal involved with it. I'm very picky.

So for me to actually purchase art, I have to like it. REALLY like it.

Guys, these prints are beautiful.

They're definitely something I could do. If I had the time, the patience, the equipment, the desire, etc. These aren't as easy to recreate as you would think, and I'm one to underestimate the time it takes to create something. So you know these took forever to master.

Time Vs. Money.

I don't have the time nor the money to make something this quality for the price they're charging.

The best thing? New orders receive 10% off when you sign up for their emails.

To order something, click here.


Now that I talked the product up so much, maybe I should show it to you?

It took me probably longer than a normal person to decide which print and size I wanted, and they were great at helping me.
So communicating: Check!

The turn around from ordering to receiving was quick. I ordered it on a Thursday and got the print, I think, on Tuesday. She even emailed me with the tracking number and asked that I let her know when it comes, and I had to reply with "It already came!"
Delivery: Check!

It was delivered in a super sturdy tube too, so no damage. The print was also wrapped in tissue paper so it didn't stick to itself or anything.
Packaging: Check!

My ONE complaint. And it's not a complaint, really. It's a matte print. Which makes it way higher quality than I was expecting. But I'm not a high quality person usually. Remember? Lots of pets and kids in this house. Things get destroyed fast. Because it was rolled up so well, it wouldn't lay flat for a good picture without rolling back up. Because of it being a matte print, it scratched a little bit. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that can tell. And It's only because I was examining the thing to be fully honest with everyone. So I went and got a poster frame for it as fast as I could to keep it safe. I knew that it would never be able to be freely hung all cute on a board like the pictures on the site show. Maybe in another house, it could survive that. But not here. Because of needing to frame it though, I don't have any good pictures of the complete print. Once framed, you don't see any of the scratches (told you I was probably the only one that would've noticed them in the first place) and it stays protected.

Can you see the scratch? Yeah, me neither now.

So if you get one, and I highly recommend you should take a look (the watercolor skylines are beautiful, but didn't have Pittsburgh), make sure you use those 4 days waiting for it to get your frame. I just got a cheap one from Target. I didn't want a thick one to take away from the print.

And the kids think it's super cool. They like looking at it trying to figure out what everything is on the map.

Can you find Point State Park? Kids loved figuring that out!

Currently it's mixed among the family pictures in the living room. One day, we will have a proper game room, and I know exactly where it will go then. It's the perfect team colors to tie all the sports together. Not too yellow, not too orange. Perfect colors.

To be completely clear, because I don't want you to think I'm trying to deceive you, I will get a percent of what you buy when using that link, and I did receive the product for free in exchange for a review. But I would tell you if this was crap and its not. All opinions are my own.

Didn't Expect This

Betcha didn't expect to see a post from me when you checked your email today, did you?

Hello! I know, I know. December 2013. That was the last time you had a smiley post from yours truly. I'm sorry. I missed you guys. Since we last talked, I would write posts in my head constantly! I would try a new product and be like "I HAVE to post about this!" I even took pictures sometimes, too.

But nope.

Never put the words to post.

I'm sorry.

I'm gonna let you in on a secret.

Blogging is hard.

Like, really hard!

Even harder when you're pregnant.

So, since the last time I've posted I've had 2 more children. TWO MORE! And added a puppy and 4 snails to our little collection of pets.

So let's recap, shall we. There's me, my husband, Pumpkin (who's now 7), Snowflake (just turned 5), Sonny (will be 3 in June), and the Baby (a girl, born December 1). Toots (black and white cat),  Ziva (mostly all black cat), Colby (a guppy), Mia (the puppy), and the 4 snails that they wanted to name after ourselves but can't remember who's who.

That's a LOT!

But I missed talking to all of you, so I'm back. Probably won't be every day. Some weeks might have daily postings; some might have none at all. But we'll go on this adventure together.

I have some stuff to talk about though. Some product reviews to do. Some projects to do around the house. Some small room shake ups. So I hope you all want to join along with me on the ride.

The Christmas Song

I almost didn't do a post tonight. The girls took a late, and long, nap, so bedtime was a bit later and more hectic than usual.

Usually, Pumpkin gets a song before bed. It's always been the same 3, although she includes another one every once in awhile.

But since it's late, and it is the Christmas season, I'll post to you all the best rendition of The Christmas Song ever recorded as far as I'm concerned (although *N Sync's is a close second) and is one of her most requested bedtime songs.

Enjoy...

Pizza Underground

This. Is. Awesome.

Everyone remembers their first celebrity crush. Everyone has had one. Mine were Macaulay Culkin and Devon Sawa. I even share a birthday with Mac, which meant it was fate, obviously.

Devon Sawa is still looking pretty nice and has a reoccurring spot on the CW show "Nikita". With another 90s teenage heartthrob, Shane West. If you didn't know about it, now you do.

But Macaulay Culkin hasn't been in the limelight too much lately. Ever wonder what he was doing? No? Bet you do now....

Brian found this out. I tell ya, best husband award.

He is in "an underground cover band that only sings about pizza."

Yes. Pizza.

You can read about it here. The article even lets you listen to the demo.

(CD cover picture taken from the Huffington Post article I linked to above.)

This is amazing. I can't wait to hear more. But not until our next pizza order. I have a feeling it'll be making me hungry.

I just thought you should all know about this.

A Little Bubble In My Water

YAY! We have our tree! It's up, but not decorated. I'll be doing that over the next few days. It's so much better than the first one we had. It should be... it cost more.

(Old Tree)

(New Tree)

Just look at the difference there!

Snowflake wasn't too happy to see us take down "Christmas", but they both enjoyed seeing a new one put in it's place. It even smells better than the other one. So glad that's done!

But does anyone else like Seltzer water?

It's an acquired taste, that for sure.

We've grown to love it here. The girls call it "pop water", and that's kinda what it is. And they think it's just clear pop, so I'm ok with that. They willingly drink it thinking they're getting the bad stuff.

My personal favorite is cherry.

At Target, there's this line called Simply Balanced. I've never paid much attention to it before, but in the juice and tonic water section is this little box of sparkling juices.

I've always wanted to try it.. it boast some pretty awesome stuff. Like it's 70% juice and 1/2 a cup of fruit in each can. I've tried similar before, but because I didn't care for seltzer, I didn't care for them. Now that I like seltzer water though... man these were great!

(Box doesn't open nicely.)

It's especially a great pop replacer if just the seltzer water isn't thick enough. I can't wait to try the other flavors. It's not the cheapest thing in the world, that much fruit wouldn't be, but it's not going to break the bank either. And as a bad blogger/shopper that I am, I forgot to even check the price. I want to say $6ish? For 4 cans.

It's worth a try if you want something different. And as always, there's coupons and Cartwheel to add on top of the RedCard for Target shoppers!

It's the holidays. It's a nice, lighter drink to add to your rotation of eggnogs and cocoas.

All Together

I would love to sit here and show you wonderful pictures of my house all decorated for Christmas.

(Still how the tree looks... it's going back)

I would love to tell you how every card is hand written and sent out.

(Still in box)

I would love for all of that to be true. 

It's not.

This is the first year I haven't had things done by now. Although, I do have most of my shopping done, even if all the gifts are in their bags on the living room floor and downstairs bathtub. Yes.. we hide in plain site.

(About 2/3rd of the gifts chilling in the tub)

I'm not one of those bloggers that have it all together all the time. And it sucks. I used to be.... before children, and school, and work, and everything else. 

Used to.

(Still up)

But right now, the house is a mess, fall decorations are still up... even some Halloween ones... 

(These are all still up, too)

And the kids are happy. They're dancing and playing and singing silly stories to each other.

I guess I have it all together after all.

Chalk Fire

No post last night. Just so tired.

The girls were, too. We all crashed. And hard. I never heard Snowflake in the middle of the night (like usual) or Brian getting out of bed to get to her. Nothing.

I think the holidays are just gonna kick my butt this year. And that's fine.

We have a tree up. Not decorated yet. I think we're returning it. Yes.... I think I dislike it enough to go through the hassle of returning it and getting a new one. I've never done that before.

It's just so puny.

And I took down some fall decorations and even changed the chalkboard picture on my mantel in the living room. Pumpkin's birthday was a month ago and it still said "Happy Birthday" on it. Not anymore.

This isn't going to last long, I can tell. There's already smudgy hand-prints in the middle of it. That's alright, it's just chalk.

So what did all of you get done over the Thanksgiving break? More than me, I hope.

Cyber Monday

It's just another Cyber Monday... ohhh oh-ohh.. Wish it was a fun day....

Sing that in your head and the ohhs will look better.

Anyways, how was your Thanksgiving, everyone? Are you all as stuffed as the bird? We're still working on the leftovers.

Black Friday was a bit of a bust. I refuse to go Thursday, or super early even, and we never really have. And never had a problem getting the good deals. We watch the ads, there was just nothing really to go after. Not for us anyways.

We still managed to spend too much. And got about a third of our shopping done. YAY.

I'm taking Pumpkin out this week to use the 20% Target coupon they gave out to get stuff from her for everyone. That'll be fun. It'll be the first time she gets to be truly involved. So everyone better like it. LOL

But today is Cyber Monday. Anyone going to be scavenging those sales? You can score some good stuff if you try. And don't forget, to use my Ebates referral link to get money back on all the online shopping as well!

I'm having a bit of tree stress, so I'll be working on that this week. Hopefully we'll have a solution and I can get back on to my merry way and show you some crafts and decorating. I might take some random days off here and there because of the season. It's so busy. And, especially with trying to get the tree decorated, no one can help me. I'm too picky.

And I'm allergic to, I'm assuming, the pine sap. I get a rash every year decorating and watering the thing. But I refuse a fake for the main tree.

So those are my plans, what are yours? All decorated already? Don't do it at all? Somewhere inbetween? Tips to not break out in a rash up to my elbows while stringing lights? Leave it in the comments to share!

 P.S. Sorry about the pictures. Every single one I took is blurry..... Crazy, active kids and impatient photographer (me) using an iPhone. This is what I got. But at least I captured the memory.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I forgot to write in the post last night that I wasn't going to be writing any more posts this week... opps

So Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm waiting for Pumpkin and Snowflake to go to bed to I can finish cleaning and start food prep. Talk about being behind schedule..lol. So I snuck on here to do a  quick post. Early Friday, we'll be shopping.. so no more post for the week!

Enjoy your holiday kick-off!

Tangle Teezer

For the past 2 years, it's been a battle with Pumpkin's hair. The first year it mostly just fell out, but after she turned 1, it started growing. And it turned out she has my hair.

Poor child.

Hair brushing  s an evil pair of words guaranteed to make us all cry.

(I could not get the "Tangle Teezer" to show up in the pics... sorry)

Our normal brush broke, so I finally caved and bought the Tangle Teezer on Saturday.

This thing is like a dream come true.

Best Friend even asked for it for Christmas.

It's not perfect, and really bad knots still need sprayed with detangler, but it's so much faster and easier. The girls even use it on my hair and it doesn't hurt me!

Of course, in my excitement that she finally sat down to brush her hair, I didn't get a chance to take pictures.

So I took pictures of my hair for you.

This is my usual hair style. This is pretty much what Pumpkin's hair looks like in the morning... without a ponytail holding it in place.

And this is my hair down, and unbrushed. You can see the knots. This thing runs right through them without snapping! It's quite amazing. We're all fighting over it now. Even Brian.

So for any of you with knotted up hair and daily fights with little girls... here's a great stocking stuffer.

I don't know why they're listing it so high, but it's only $10 at Target.

Your head will thank me.

Turkey Finger Puppet

We were watching Activity TV one day for about a whole 4 minutes. During those 4 minutes, they made a turkey finger puppet. It is really cute. Pumpkin wanted to make one, but she hasn't behaved long enough to make it yet.

Sigh.

That means I don't have pictures for you.

Whenever she decides to sit still long enough and listen, we will make one, and I will add the photos for you all to see. Whenever that is.

So I'll include the information here for you and maybe one of you moms with better listening children can send me pictures of your kids' turkeys? Just so I can have some kind of picture to post?

Here's the link for the print out with directions and the pattern to trace. You don't really need to do the googly eyes or the straw and string part of it. We weren't going to use the straw. Obviously we still have a ton of eyes to use up though.

Link to the pdf file to make the turkey finger puppet.

And here's a link to the video to see how to do it. It's a bit cheesy, but sometimes watching instructions are easier than reading them.

Link to the video to make the turkey finger puppet.

I really wish I had a picture or 3 for you. Maybe tomorrow.

EDIT: Guess who finally made them! YAY! Here you go!

Best Italian Salad Dressing

Ever.

I mean it.

I don't like Italian salad dressing. I was never a fan. Which is weird since italian hoagies were very popular food items amongst my friends growing up. I was more of a Ranch girl. And a few handful of vinaigrettes. But never Italian.

Until my job.

One of the perks to my job is that I get to eat. As the hours and children have grown, thankfully, so has my food "allowance". Over the summer, I would try to get Pumpkin to eat something other than toast there. She doesn't only ever eat toast, but for some reason it's best at Ethel's. Even now, as soon as we get there after dropping Pumpkin off at school, Snowflake immediately asks for "toast and pop" (Ginger Ale spiked water). So while trying to get her to eat something, I would put out a few pieces of lettuce ("leaves" they call it) and she liked that. Then, one day Best Friend was with us and she wanted cucumber with dressing. Pumpkin wanted it, too. I've never seen this child of mine eat so many cucumbers in my life. It was a game changer.

Last week, I wanted some cucumbers and salad dressing to go with our grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a rare day that it could just be me and Pumpkin, so we ate this together. She originally wanted 4 thin slices. she ate a quarter of a cucumber. She kept wanting more! So I asked for the recipe.

The next day I was there, there was a salad dressing kit and a packet of the spices waiting for me. Best. Random. Gift. Ever.

I made it that night (last Thursday) and Pumpkin has had 4 salads, and carrot sticks dipped into it since. That's in 4 days. 3 of those salads were on Friday.

Snowflake tries it, but doesn't like it. And I'm ok with that. She's trying it. She's not even 2 and wants to try salad. I'm pretty lucky.

So to the recipe, shall we?

First you buy this:

It's under $3 at Walmart. It's what creates the magic. It comes with 2 packets of Italian seasoning. That's not the one you want. Sure, if you like regular Italian, this might be fine. I was suggested to use it over ground meat while it's browning before adding tomatoes to make spaghetti sauce. Seems like a perfect use for it.

^^THIS is the seasoning packet you want. It has all the taste of Italian but not as strong. It's perfect.

Then you follow the directions on the bottle. Yes, that simple! The bottle is marked "V" for vinegar, "W" for water, and "O" for oil. The box tells you different recipes to try using different vinegars and oils. I just used normal white vinegar and olive oil for mine. But like always, recipes I "follow" are ever so slightly altered.

Fill the vinegar up to the "V" line.

Fill water up to just past the "W" line.

Pour in flavoring packet.

Here's the biggest difference. Pour in about a teaspoon of sugar. Sorry the picture is blurrier than normal, I realized I was pouring in a bit too much sugar while trying to take the picture left handed.

You can see there's a bit too much sugar in there on the bottom, but aren't those layers pretty?

Then you shake all the ingredients up together. I think the excess sugars didn't dissolve all the way, and that's fine with me.

Pour the oil in until just over the "O" line. Vinegar and oil doesn't mix, so you'll get pretty layers. So more shaking. 

And you're done! Isn't it pretty? It costs less then buying it already made, tastes better, and much prettier on the dinner table. And it'll last up to 4 weeks in the refrigerator. So it won't go to waste.

Then watch as everyone fights over it to eat. Maybe not, but you'll feel good about controlling some of the ingredients you're eating, and it definitely upped our veggie count. We just had to buy another head of lettuce.

They have other packet flavors, and you can always create your own, so I'm excited to try other ones. And for a girl that never measures anything, having the bottle marked for me is a nice bonus. No worries of it being too vinegary or oily.

So what's your favorite dressing? Have you ever made your own before? Other recipes for me to try? Let me know in the comments below.