Posted on May 14th, 2013 by mudpies
Thank you Tomoson for sending me a full-sized bottle of Scott’s Liquid Gold!
We moved last year over Memorial Day weekend. I am thrilled with the home that we bought. It is a farm house from 1919. The previous owners did a TON of updating…all new tilt in windows, dry wall and other great upgrades. Thankfully they left the original woodwork. We have a gorgeous bannister and door frames and more. While I love, love, love our woodwork, our regular dusting polish just does not work on it. Thankfully I was sent a bottle of Scotts’s Liquid Gold to try out.
Scott’s Liquid Gold is a wood cleaner and a wood preservative. This is not a waxy polish. I was quite anxious to give it a whirl. It said it boasted a “natural almond scent”. I was a bit nervous about that since I am used to a lemony smell. The natural almond scent is so light and lovely! I could easily get used to using it. To use this properly you first test a small area of your wood. If it looks good then you can clean the entire area. To use it, you spray it on and then buff it dry with a cloth. It is important to use a cloth that does not leave fuzz behind. here is a photo of two of my door frames before.
If you look closely you can see nicks, scratches, scrapes and places where the kids hands leave behind dirts and oils. Now…for the after pictures.
Again, looking closely you can see the wood has taken on a new shiny appearance. The dirt and oil stains are gone and the nicks appear to have been healed. Another perk? No waxy feel afterwards. Scott’s Liquid Gold has earned a permanent place in my cleaning supply closet!
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
Filed under: Home and Garden, Review | 7 Comments »
Posted on May 13th, 2013 by mudpies
Thank you Ozeri for sending me a new pan to review!
21. The number of meals I make in an average week. 6. The number of people I am responsible for feeding. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Whenever I can try a new knife, pan or gadget I jump on it. Everything in my kitchen gets a lot of use so I like to look for quality items. While I am not immune to “mom guilt” when it comes to spending money on clothing for myself, I feel no guilt in buying new, nice items for my kitchen. Ozeri recently sent me a new pan and this new pan inspired a new recipe!
This new pan is called the Stone Earth Pan and is available for purchase on Amazon.
- “Utilizes a natural stone-derived coating from Germany that achieves non-stick perfection while remaining 100% free of PFOA, a harmful chemical found in traditional cookware.
- Eco-friendly pan delivers unprecedented non-stick performance without releasing harmful fumes or toxins at high temperatures.
- Features a scratch-resistant stone-based coating that is super easy to clean.
- Interior of pan made out of durable heavy-gauge die-cast aluminum with no harmful chemicals or trace metals.
- Boasts a comfortable heat-resistant silicon coated handle that is reinforced to the pan via 3 rivets, and a magnetized base for use with rapid heat transfer induction stoves.”
I LOVE my new pan! I love that it is truly non-stick but without chemicals that are dangerous to my family.
The base did not leave any marks on our flat top electric stove. As it happened, the day my new pan arrived I had some leftover baked Sweet-n-Sour chicken in my fridge. My husband asked to have it for dinner but I wanted a new way to cook it since we had just served it with Jasmita rice the night prior. Excited to give my new pan a whirl I pulled it out and got creative.
Savory Skillet Pasta with a Twist!
A quick and easy way to use leftover Sweet-n-sour chicken!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Leftover Sweet-n-Sour Chicken
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil (May use oil of your choice instead of Olive oil.)
- 4 cloves Diced Garlic
- 1 small Serving of cooked pasta
Directions
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Step 1
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| Cook the pasta according to directions. Drain and set to the side. |
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Step 2
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| Add the oil and garlic to your skillet and let cook for 1-2 minutes. |
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Step 3
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| Toss in the pasta and cook for several minutes until the pasta looks well coated in garlic and olive oil. |
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Step 4
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| Top it with the leftover chicken and continue cooking until heated through. |
I was thrilled with this recipe and with the performance of my new Stone Earth Pan from Ozeri. Would you like to see how well the non-stick surface worked? Here is a photo of my pan. All I did was get the food out. This is how clean it was BEFORE cleaning it.
What do you think of this pan? If you try out my recipe please stop by and let me know!
Filed under: food, Home and Garden, Recipes, Review | 16 Comments »
Posted on May 12th, 2013 by mudpies
For Mother’s Day as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias® I purchased some Bigelow Tea and other items to donate to our church for special gifts.
Earl Grey Tea with my grandma. Cozy Chamomile Tea to help reduce heartburn during 4 of my pregnancies. Red Raspberry Herb Tea in the summer with the girls. Bigelow Tea is always on hand here in our home. Naturally, Bigelow made it’s way into our Mother’s Day celebration as well. We live in a small town. In fact, if you come visit me, you may think you have landed in Mayberry. Friendly postmen who deliver mail by hand, streets ringing with the laughter and play of children, yards that are always beautiful and neatly trimmed and of course, our church. It just so happens that my dad is the pastor at our church. Each year as part of our Mother’s Day celebration he gives away a few special gifts. Last year, I purchased some lovely chocolates and donated them. This year I asked if I could put together some goodies once again. I took the kids with me and we visited our local Walmart. While driving we discussed some different possibilities. Immediately upon entering we made our way to the Tea department. The girls made a beeline to the Bigelow section and chose their favorites.
Two boxes was not enough so they chose several more. It was lots of fun finding the different flavors. I had a good laugh when my 8 year old said, “Why would anyone buy Sweet Dreams tea for a mom. Moms work hard and are always tired.” Ha!
We wanted some other fun items to go with the Bigelow Tea so we selected some giant chocolate bars, some delicate tea cookies and of course, travel mugs.
The girls have excellent taste and did a wonderful job choosing items any mom would love to receive. I let the girls do most of the choosing because I feel it is so important to teach the about giving back. Even our two year old son was able to make some choices along the way. After leaving the store, we dropped all the goodies off to my dad. My mom packaged them all up in some beautiful bags.
During church this morning, all the ladies got to put their name in a basket. At each service dad chose a winner. During first service an elderly lady won! It was such a special moment because none of her children were with her. She was thrilled with the Bigelow Tea and all the other goodies. In second service a lady won who had just gone through a pretty painful back surgery. I know she felt very lucky and pampered to receive her bag as well. Now that church is over, I am relaxing with a mug of Bigelow Green Tea and feeling incredibly thankful for my four blessings.
I am a member of the Collective Bias ® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.
Filed under: Family Life, Mom | 16 Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2013 by mudpies
Thank you to Candleshop.com for my complimentary candle!
I’m a candle fanatic! I have at least one in every room. So, I was excited to work with Candleshop.com, home of the Serenity Candle Company, and try out one of their large soy candles candles. They offer a large selection of candles that are made from 100% Vegetable Soy Based Wax and scented with natural essential oils. These dye-free, eco-friendly candles are hand poured and 85% soot free. I usually gravitate towards spicy, fall type scents but since summer is almost here, I decided to try something a little different. It was so hard to choose! They have so many great sounding scents. I finally decided on Vanilla Verbena.
This candle has a base scent of vanilla with touched of lemon verbena and sandalwood. It’s a really nice combination! I’ve been burning it almost daily and with a burn time of 70-90 hours, I’ll be able to use it for quite a while!
Candleshop.com has many styles and sizes of candles to choose from including small, medium, large, and extra large jar candles, tealights, tarts and candle tins. You can see the full selection of Soy Serenity Candles at the Candleshop.com website. You can also connect with them on Facebook. Candleshop.com is giving away one large jar candle in winners’ choice of scent to TWO winners!
Filed under: Current Giveaways, Home and Garden, Review | 20 Comments »
Posted on May 11th, 2013 by mudpies
Thank you HALO for sending me this SleepSack to review. Our toddler loves it! All opinions are 100% my own.
SleepSacks were popular 10 years ago when we were expecting our first child. I remember receiving several HALO SleepSacks at our baby showers. I was not aware of all the reasons to put your baby in a SleepSack but I loved the ease of changing her diapers when she wore them. Recently I was contacted to conduct a review for a HALO SleepSack. My first thought was that our son is too big. Our other son is a toddler and is almost 3! He is on the run so SleepSacks were not for us right? WRONG! Parents, SleepSacks have grown up! HALO has created two new versions: the HALO SleepSack Early Walker and the HALOBig Kids SleepSack. I opted to try the Big Kids SleepSack for our almost 3 year old son.
(Stock photo from HALO)
We were anxious to try it with our son. He is such an active boy and does not stay covered up at night.
You can tell this is big on him, but we chose a larger size so that he can wear it longer. He seemed to love the way it fit. I loved how covered he was at night. We did not worry about covering him up over and over. The SleepSack Early Walker and Big Kids are now available in a new lightweight-knit fabric as well as available in Micro-fleece and Comfort Mesh so you can get the cloth that is just right for your child or for the season.
And there is big difference. Holes for the feet. This keeps your child covered from head to ankle and allows them the freedom to walk, run and climb.
Did you know?
“HALO Innovation’s SleepSack® wearable blankets have become the standard for hospital nurseries and parents alike. In fact, 1,000 hospital nurseries use the HALO SleepSack Swaddle instead of blankets through the HALO Safer Way to Sleep Initiative. As your child grows from baby to toddler, HALO Innovations offers the SleepSack Early Walker and SleepSack Big Kids – now in a new lightweight- knit fabric. HALO SleepSack Early Walker and SleepSack Big Kids offer your child the warmth and security of a SleepSack so he can fall asleep fast and sleep soundly throughout the night as well as unique foot openings for more mobility when awake.”
If you are like me, you are excited by these new developments from HALO.
Filed under: clothing, Current Giveaways, Review, toddlers | 23 Comments »
