Recent Posts

When I stopped working outside the home in 2006 it’s like my sense of style went away with my job.  Staying home during the days and homeschooling our daughter means that the dress code ranges from hoodies and lounge pants to pajamas some days.  Now that Amber’s heading to university and I have places to go and people to see outside of that “mom” position I hold so dearly, I need some updated fashions to add to my closet.

I’ve had my iMac for a year now.  There’s nothing like a fresh hard drive when you get a new computer.  If you’re like me though, you tend to save everything.  I’m kind of a file packrat.  I have folder upon folder on my hard drive with pictures and files that I’ve saved in numerous places on my Mac.  While I have plenty of room on my 1 TB drive, it’s somewhat silly to have two or three copies of the SAME file on the SAME drive.  Especially since I use Time Machine to back up hourly changes to a separate hard drive. 

Are you as excited as my daughter is about the release of the Disney movie FROZEN on DVD on Tuesday, March 18th?  And I’m excited about the price rollback of the DVD at Walmart from $16.96 to $14.96.  Even better…if you pick up some specially marked 24 ct. boxes of Eggo Waffles there’s a $5.00 coupon on it for the FROZEN DVD as well.  Waffles and a movie…that’s some affordable entertainment right there folks!

At Japan Week last weekend March 6-8 in New York City, Takumi Japan was on hand sharing some cool products from some of Japan’s small businesses and artisans.

TAKUMI JAPAN is a project aiming to introduce the thriving Japanese small business community to new markets and to share the tradition, design and craftsmanship of Japanese artisans and craftsmen.

It’s that time of year! Families across the country are gearing up for college campus visits.  Before taking the time (and spending the money) to apply to schools, it’s a good idea for students to visit a variety of campus’ to determine which will be a good fit for them and their family. However, this may not be feasible for many families due to the associated costs. As an alternative to the traditional campus visit, students can do virtual tours on websites such as www.youniversitytv.com, or attend a virtual college fair on www.collegeweeklive.com.

When my daughter was born I had to redefine the word beauty to myself. I wasn’t a super young mom at 22, but up to that point I did define beauty as the way a woman looked. Of course that’s not the way I wanted to portray beauty to my daughter as she grew up. I wanted her to hear the word beauty and think of words like confidence, kindness, respectfulness and compassion.

But I had to believe that myself in order for her to believe it too, because young people quickly pick up on ‘say one thing, do another.’

In 1989, Fresh Express created the very first ready-to-eat, packaged garden salad available in grocery stores nationwide. Today, Fresh Express is the market leader in delivering great-tasting, nutritious, fresh salads to health-conscious people. The brand has an unrivaled selection of fresh salad mixes, complete kits, and wholesome, organic products. But whichever variety of Fresh Express you choose, rest assured you’ll be getting the freshest, best tasting salad you can find.

Just in time for Pi Day, I’m sharing this easy to make Cheesy Shepherd’s Pie altered from eMeals Costco Plan.  I shared another inspired recipe from that plan the other day, Lemon Herb French Style Green Beans. 

eMeals is a meal planning service that takes the stress of meal planning and grocery shopping away, giving you the tools you need to get dinner on the table…even on busy nights!  And there are so many plans to choose from, there’s sure to be one that benefits your family.

With a lot of the recipes I feature on my blog, one wouldn’t think that we are very heart conscious, but I promise you we eat most of these dishes and desserts in moderation.  Because heart disease runs in my husband’s family (both his parents passed due to heart conditions), I really do take measures to change up favorite recipes and make them heart healthy.