#projectpursedump for Dec 18th

Project Purse Dump: Juliette Cross

Hi, everyone! So, my purse is ultra boring. Nothing but piles of receipts, my wallet, phone, sunglasses, and my reading glasses which I can never seem to find. Instead, my character Genevieve Drake from the Vessel series will share with you what’s in her purse. FYI, Gen is a college co-ed turned demon hunter in New Orleans. Take it away, Gen!

1. Tommy Girl Hand Lotion—My hands get chapped, and a girl’s gotta smell nice, right?

2. Chocolate—Always have some stashed in my purse. Helps me in all kinds of emotional emergencies.

3. A Benchmade Knife—My dad’s first present to me when I moved out of the house into an apartment with my bestie, Mindy. (Check out the closeup! It’s got the cutest butterfly.) And Jude almost cracked a smile when he saw me carrying it. Almost.

4. Mindy’s Ferrari-red Lipstick—Mindy has way more fashion sense than I do and insists I wear it when we go out.

5. Pony Tail Holders—Gotta have ‘em.

6. Celtic Bracelet—I bought this in the French Market because it reminded me of my mother and her artwork. She always loved Celtic scrollwork and interlacing. Jude gets a sort of sad look on his face when I wear it, so I usually just stick it back in my purse.

7. Vincent Van Gogh Sticky Notes—Couldn’t pass these up when I saw them at the NOMA souvenir shop. You always need sticky notes. Why not have some classy ones?

8. Matches—I don’t smoke, but I pick up matches wherever I go. These are from the Cigar Factory on Decatur, Pat O’Brien’s in the Quarter, and Commander’s Palace on Canal from the last time Dad took me.

9. Pens—You always need a pen. Be prepared.

10. Dickinson Pocket Poetry—Though I’ve had to set my English studies aside for more noble pursuits, like hunting demons with Jude, I can’t give up my favorite book of pocket poetry. Emily inspires me. When life gets tough, I always go to these lines, “Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops—at all.”


About Juliette: Multi-published author of paranormal and urban fantasy romance with Samhain and Kensington Publishing, Juliette calls lush, moss-laden Louisiana, home where the landscape curls into her imagination, creating mystical settings for her stories. From the moment she read JANE EYRE as a teenager, she fell in love with the Gothic romance--brooding characters, mysterious settings, persevering heroines, and dark, sexy heroes. Even then, she not only longed to read more books set in Gothic worlds, she wanted to create her own.

#projectpursedump for Oct 9th

I'm a lazy blogger.  Well actually a non-existant trying to get my shit-together and get back to blogging blogger.  I can't even keep up to one post a week.  Ok in my defense this last week has been crazy CRAZY busy and we've got some big stuff going on in our lives.  So anyway.....  here's Oct 9th #projectpursedump!  I missed Oct 2nd and thankfully the boss isn't firing me.

When I heard about #ProjectPurseDump, a part of me rejoiced and laughed out loud. After all, what an original idea for a blog hop!

The other part of me shivered in horror. After all, this means I'm offering viewers a look inside my purse. Some days, even I don't know what's in there. And I swear, sometimes, in its deep recesses, things move...

I can only attribute it to the fact I have what my sons call a "mother's purse." In other words, a bottomless pit of useless items that you very well might need in a life-or-death situation one day. I can't find my wallet most of the time, but if you randomly pick three items from my purse, you'd be able to MacGyver your way out of many situations.

OK, I suppose I am exaggerating a tad. Every good storyteller does (my story and I’m sticking to it). And I will freely admit I did a little clean up. With an industrial vacuum. You see, every time I look in my purse, I feel a little like Oscar Madison from The Odd Couple. It’s not that I’m messy. I just don’t clean up … right away. However, for the purposes of this post, I removed the “unidentifiables” from the bottom of my bag.

Thanks to Tracey Gee and Jessica Cale for allowing me to be part of this interesting tour. I am only a little scarred, and after you take a closer look at my belongings, you might be as well.

So (deep breath). What do I have in my purse? Well, fair traveler and lover of the weird, let's have a look.

1 - Yogurt (usually two small tubs). I often eat on the run. Bad for you, I know, but mornings are hard and I don't usually sit down for breakfast. Instead, I cart yogurt around with me. It does grow warmish, I concede, but I like it that way. If it's too cold, it hurts my teeth. One of the yogurt tubs did once explode, covering the contents of my purse. It was gross. I did clean that mess, but I smelled blueberries for weeks.

2 - Spoons (for afore-mentioned yogurt). A girl needs spoons! My problem is I often forget to take them out of my purse at the end of the day. This means, by week end, my purse is a bacteria-riddled cutlery stomping ground. Seriously, I swear they're multiplying.

3 - Tissues. I blow my nose a lot. I hate drips. However, where most neat and tidy ladies carry those cute little Kleenex pouches, I tend to stuff a bunch in my purse willy-nilly. So, yeah, some of them might be old...and used. I did warn you, didn't I???

4 - A wallet full of reward cards I always forget to redeem. The only one I use religiously is Starbucks. Seriously, don't touch my St. Arbuck's card. I really should throw out the other cards for Payless, Hallmark, Cineplex, Hane's, Ricki's...you get the idea. Someone, cut me off.

5 - Five lipsticks and a lip balm in the shape of a pink skull. My mother always said, "Never go out without lipstick." I have heeded her words since I was 18. My preferences are reds and pinks.

6 - Paper calendar/writing notebooks/pens. I'm a writer. What can I say? I always have a notebook and writing utensils with me. And my paper day timer is a godsend. I'd be lost without it. Although I am tech savvy (enough), I still like a paper calendar. And I always write my name and number in the front, like a third-grader, in case it gets lost.

7 - A discreet black pouch to carry maxi pads. I’m in my forties. Things are unpredictable. 'Nuff said.

8 - My glasses case. It may look fancy with the Versace label, but it is covered in blue ink...because I carry pens for scribbling in my notebook. Sigh. I am constantly covered in ink, dairy products and old, wrinkled tissue bits.

9 - My cheap Walmart sunglasses. I never buy expensive sunglasses because the minute I get them home, I accidentally sit on them and break them. Whenever I buy them at Walmart for $10.99, they last forever. I could jump up and down on those suckers and they’ll refuse to break.

10 - Oh, and a very basic phone (with which I am photographing this mess) so I can stalk my children on Instagram. Seriously, boys. You have no secrets, my friends. I know everything and I see what you "like." And, by the way, you're grounded.

Author bio:

Rosanna Leo is a multi-published, erotic romance author. Several of her books about Greek gods, selkies and shape shifters have been named Top Picks at Night Owl Romance and The Romance Reviews.

From Toronto, Canada, Rosanna occupies a house in the suburbs with her long-suffering husband, their two hungry sons and a tabby cat named Sweetie. When not writing, she can be found haunting dusty library stacks or planning her next star-crossed love affair.

A library employee by day, she is honored to be a member of the league of naughty librarians who also happen to write romance. Rosanna blogs at www.rosannaleoauthor.wordpress.com

Author Links

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Rosanna-Leo/e/B007X5P4I8

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5826852.Rosanna_Leo

Tsu: http://www.tsu.co/RosannaLeo

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/rosannaleo/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rleoauthor1

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/LeoRosanna

#projectpursedump

See....  I knew I'd forget.  I know myself and I know I haven't blogged in forever so I've forgotten about deadlines and such.   I need a kick in the pants.....  that and a coffee, stat!!

So, here's the next purse dump!

Project Purse Dump

Twenty-two lipsticks. Eleven bottlecaps. Seven black pens. Five magnets. Three tins of Altoids. Hello Kitty bandaids. A Mucha compact mirror from Paris, and a coin from House on the Rock.

These are a few of things I found this week when I emptied my purse out onto the floor.

In my defense, it is a very large purse. I have a few you might call “sensible” purses, brightly colored leather with understated embellishments and clever pockets, but the one I keep returning to is an oversized, flimsy thing I got at World Market for I think $8. It’s grey and it has crows on it. Size aside, it’s fairly nondescript, and goes well with my worn out jeans and band t-shirt aesthetic, plus I can fit half a library (and a hoodie!) into it should the occasion call for it. All of the things you see here were in it on a day that it was fairly empty, apart from my cat there, but he could have fit into it, too.

So what’s inside? It’s a kind of survival kit, plus a few extra bits and pieces I picked up along the way. Let’s take a closer look.

The essentials:

Seven black pens and two packs of post-its: I usually also carry a notebook full of graph paper with me for story ideas, but post-its and pens will do in a pinch. If I get story ideas--anything from bits of dialogue to major plot points--I write them on post its and stick them to the cards in my coin purse if I don’t have a notebook handy. Apparently I can also write notes on my phone, but this still feels too futuristic for me most days, and I usually forget.

Makeup: I don’t intentionally have twenty-two lipsticks on me at all times, it’s just that they gather in my purse. I don’t have any anywhere else in my house. I have them in my purse, in the coin purse inside, and more inside the Union Jack makeup bag. This makeup bag also contains hair pins, more ponytail holders than I have anywhere else, two eyeliners (one black, one purple), face powder, blush, mascara, orange scented roll on perfume, and a souvenir Mucha makeup mirror I got in Paris ten years ago. Because you never. fucking. know. Some days you just need eyeliner, and lots of it. I once loaned one of my friends a fire engine red Stila lipstick to write down her number for a random guy, and a couple years later, loaned the same lipstick to another friend when he was hosting punk rock karaoke as a kinky sailor. Who wore it better? My vote’s on Dave.

Coin purse: I haven’t carried a wallet in many years. In Britain, coins are far more common than paper bills, so carrying a coin purse was far more practical. I’ve been back in the states for a couple of years now, but I still carry the same coin purse I bought at New Look for a pound almost ten years ago. Today it’s full of all of my cards, some random change, a spare set of earbuds, post-its covered in story ideas, a customs declaration, a list of Edith Piaf songs (really), a guitar pick, some fortunes from cookies (“Don’t put off till tomorrow what can be enjoyed today…” in bed (snicker), hair pins, and more lipstick. Could you fit all of that into a wallet? Didn’t think so.

A coin from The House on Rock: How else will I make the crazy music play?

Randoms:

Bottlecaps and magnets: Okay, there’s a reason for this, I promise. My friend Lily gave these to me a couple of weeks ago so I could make some bottlecap magnets for my fridge. She made some and they look awesome, so I’m going to give it a shot.

 Three tins of altoids: Why have three when one should be curiously strong enough? None of these are actually mine. My husband keeps buying them and asking me to hold them, so I put them in my purse. He forgets they’re there and buys more, asks me to hold them, and voila. Three tins. Can I offer you a mint?

Not pictured: The phone I use to obsessively ignore my email and ogle pictures of macarons on Instagram, my work badge, and my keys.

This might seem like a lot, but if you need to be minty or photo-ready, I’ve got your back. You know, just in case.

Bio: Jessica Cale is a recovering journalist writing historical romances out of a grey bedroom in North Carolina. Originally from Minnesota, she lived in Wales for several years where she earned a BA in History and an MFA in Creative Writing while climbing castles and photographing mines for history magazines. She kidnapped (“married”) her very own British prince (close enough) and is enjoying her happily ever after with him in a place where no one understands his accent. You can visit her at www.authorjessicacale.com.

You can find her here:

Website: http://www.authorjessicacale.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjessicacale

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaCale @JessicaCale

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JessicaCaleWrites

Tumblr: http://authorjessicacale.tumblr.com/

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/rainbowcarnage

Instagram: skittles_and_smut

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Jessica-Cale/e/B00PVDV9EW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9819997.Jessica_Cale

#projectpursedump

After not blogging in forever I'm going to attempt two blog posts in one night!!  My friend Tracey convince me to join the #projectpursedump which is all about taking pictures and talking about the items in your purse.  I'm not up until Jan but I've promised not to purposely change or alter my purse contents to make it more interesting.

So, first up is Tracey Gee and her purse!

Project Purse Dump: September
18, 2015

I’m so meta. You can see, in the background, this blog posting as it’s being written






Welcome to Week 1 of Project Purse Dump. I get to go first only so I can give the other wonderful people who’ve signed up a chance to get their blogs ready. Mine will be the dullest purse, I’m sure.
First of all, I don’t carry a purse. That alone is a blog post (not really, that would be cruel). I’m a backpack kinda gal and have been for about 30 years. I have come to the following two conclusions about this:

1. It’s better for my body.

2. I’m a Libra and hate to be unbalanced.

And here’s my stash, once more, with feeling:

Here’s the tale of the tape, minus the tape.

A. The two most essential drugs/supplements in my life, after Xylometazoline: Acetaminophen and Lactaid®. They go with me, everywhere.

B. I live in Canada. And like most Canucks, I have a dizzying array of Tim Cards. Neither of these has any money on it. Bummer.

C. Boring. My wallet and coin purse.

D. Double-boring. My water bottle. You never know when you’ll be stranded and need water. One day, I’ll blog about my struggle (mostly over now, phew) with OCD. Not fake OCD, the real deal.

E. My blood donor reminder card. I went last week. Yay! Cookies!

F. Ok, now we have a story. This is my ultra-cool Swiss Army knife. I’ve carried one forever. The best thing about this one (my second in 30+ years, first one was stolen)? I was in Genève once a long long time ago and got locked in a public toilet. For years I wondered what on earth would I ever do with a fish scaler. Seriously? Me? I’m at two with Nature.
Then I went to Genève. Things to know about many parts of Europe? Pay toilets. Things to know about this particular pay toilet in Genève?

     1. If you catch the door before it closes and you haven’t put any coins in (I didn’t have any, I        wasn’t being cheap, just desperate), you will be LOCKED IN THE TOILET.

     2. A lot of the public toilets are floor-to-ceiling walls for the cubicles. That means, they aren’t   really cubicles. They’re tiny rooms.

     3. There is a drug problem in some parts of Europe and in some public toilets (even in really nice places), they use black light so those wanting to find a vein can’t do so.

So you get the idea: I was locked in a very dark tiny room in Switzerland. And I have a train to catch (once I find the train station) because I’m heading to Italy (the food’s better).

Oh, did I mention I’m claustrophobic?

And did I mention there is little-to-no sympathy for North Americans travelling in Europe without change for the toilet? That’s just an aside.

In panic, I rifled through my knapsack and dug up my Swiss Army knife and tried a few things before hitting the fish scaler and voila! I was in Milan later that same day eating farfalle al funghi, the morning just a bad memory.

G. My teeny phone. I live on my teeny phone. Mummy loves her teeny phone. It’s an HTC Desire C and I have three of them. No. Really. All I need: email, WhatsApp, and Instagram. It possibly works as a phone, too.

H. A watch. Yes. It’s true. I wear a watch. I hate having to look at my phone for the time because I don’t want to look like one of those people who owns 3 HTC Desire C phones.

I. My comb. Just in case I get a moment to actually comb my hair. That happened in 2014, and I look forward to it happening again this fiscal.

J. What kind of mother would I be if I didn’t have my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle gel pen?

K. Don’t laugh. It’s the schedule for the Y by my house. I circle classes on it (which I never attend).

L. My only cosmetic: lip balm. That’s it.

M. My key chain. See that carabiner clip? I hang my keys on my bra strap. It’s the only way I can find my keys. I never keep them in my purse except when I’m NOT out. That spine on my key chain? That from my evil chiropractor. It’s a great ice breaker.

N. My teeny tiny travel New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. Because you never know when you need a quiet moment with God.



About Tracey Gee

Bright light! Bright light! (Sure, you saw Gremlins, didn't you?)

I’m a crabby old bat. Easily distracted. Portly, perimenopausal, whiffy yet whimsical. I keep the BFG 9000 in my girdle. In my spare time, I eat stress. Lots of it. I'm the O/O of LOVExtra.com, my newest binary baby who’s about to turn one, this November. My personal blog is the aptly named Old Enough and Ugly Enough.

I'm trying desperately to write a book which is worthy of a publisher's notice. In the absence of that, I play piano and classical guitar—badly—and go to Zumba. My own true love.

 I eschew malls.

Shake The Crave Product Review

I was recently sent a sample of Shake the Crave vanilla shake mix and chocolate shake mix to try.  Shake the crave is like a meal replacement shake that is specially formulated using only 100% pure ingredients that help you to feel full longer and boost energy levels helping with weight loss.  You won't find anything artificial in this mix!  

These shakes are supposed to be blended with milk then other ingredients such as fruits and veggies can be added as you wish.  They can be eaten instead of a snack or a meal.  I mixed the chocolate one with frozen raspberries and milk and it was delicious like a thick chocolate shake that was sweet enough to make me think I was being really indulgent yet I'm having something healthy.  The vanilla one I had with banana and milk and you can taste the real vanilla bean flavour.  Although I did enjoy both I do prefer the chocolate one.

Based on flavour alone this shake is delicious.  I am part of a ninety day testing opportunity with these shakes meaning I'm having them two times a day as directed along with an exercise program so stay tuned for my results from putting this product to the test! 

I was provided this product for review purposes free of charge from Trusted Health Products and all opinions on this blog are my own.   

Garnier Fructis #ColorShield Review

I colour my hair at home a few times a year because I'm getting older and like to hide the gray hair and I'm too cheap to visit the salon all the time for upkeep.  I often choose red which unfortunately seems to fade the fastest.  I was sent these products through Influenster to use on my coloured hair.  They claim to protect and shield hair colour from fade out, wash out and dry out.

First of all I love the light fruity smell which seems quite common with the fructis line of hair products.  The leave in shine spray in particular has a delicious cinnamon - pomegranate scent.  I found the shampoo feels quite heavy on the hair like it's coating it but it rinses out nicely leaving my hair squeaky clean.  The conditioner is thin but effective so you end up using less of it.  The leave in spray I use if I will be blow drying my hair and it seems to protect from the heat of the blow dryer.  Overall I would use the products but they wouldn't be my first choice.  I still love the Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser line best!  

I can't really comment on how well these products keep colour from fading as I've only been using them for a week so far which isn't long enough to assess that.  Hopefully the #ColorShield will live up to it's name and my hair will remain a vibrant red for longer than usual.  

"I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.  All opinions on this blog are my own."

Impressed with imPRESS Press-On Manicure by Broadway Nails #imPRESSmanicure

I have a good set of strong nails but I don't usually take the time to paint them as it doesn't last.  In my line of work I use my hands a lot for most of six hours and they also spend a good chunk of time wet or submerged in water.  In such conditions any nail polish I might have on wears off and looks awful usually after just a few hours into a shift then on my days off I just don't always find the time to paint them.

For parties and other occasions it's nice to have painted nails but my own aren't always the same length when I need them to be or in good condition so that's where imPRESS Press-On Manicure works very well.  It took me about two minutes to figure out which nail goes where and to peel off the backings and press them on.  So simple and it turned out fantastic!  I decided to leave them on while I went to work and went about my everyday life to see how long they lasted.  On the package it says up to one week.  Well for me they started lifting up in the middle of day three.  Considering I worked two of those three days I think that's pretty good.  The polish doesn't wear off either.  I have never worn any type of fake or press on nails ever but it didn't really take long to get used to them but I don't think I could ever get used to working in them as I like to use my nails at work.  

Removal is just as easy.  The ends were beginning to lift on a few of them so I gently slid a nail under the press on one and slowly peeled it off and the ones that weren't lifted I slowly peeled them off from the sides and it didn't hurt of leave any sticky residues on my nails.  My own nails look great and don't show signs that anything was stuck to them.  Although I wouldn't wear press on nails such as this all the time I'd definitely keep a set or two around for those times I'd like to add a little pizazz to my look.

"I recieved these products complementary for review purposes"  #influenster

Beautiful A.M. Moisturizer and P.M. Revitalizer Review and Giveaway!

I have crap facial skin and always have as long as I can remember.  I'm pretty sure I have rosacea but it's never been diagnosed except by Dr Google and there's been times my cheeks are so dry they are like alligator skin and I've been prescribed cream for that time to time.  I also have breakouts somewhat often.

Though I've never officially seen a doctor for my face she had mentioned in the past that I could get it fixed but at what cost?  Yes I'd love to have that smooth, creamy complexion but I've made do for almost 38 yrs with the skin I was born with and I can't say it's really negatively affected my life in any way.  That being said I do wear foundation on a daily basis to lessen the redness.

I'm always willing to try new products on my face in an effort to find anything that may help but I'm not willing to do trial and error with products that cost $20-30  or more a bottle.  I was approached by Trusted Health Products at http://www.trustedhealthproducts.com/ to try their pure and natural Beautiful A.M. Moisturizer and P.M. Revitalizer.

First of all I love the way it smells like fruity oils.  It makes sense because it is a mixture of oils including fruit oils and it also goes on nice and smooth as an oil should.  It's good for all skin types and basically replaces everything and anything you would use on your skin (except makeup if you wish) and would be the only 2 products you would need making it cheaper overall.  Beautiful is food for your skin and the bottles even come personalized with your name on it.  There is also a men's line as well.  Apparantly it takes about 30 days for Beautiful to detoxify your skin so I followed the directions putting 3 or more drops on each cheek and using my finger to spread on the skin, not rub in.  I did this for 30 days.  I didn't notice a huge change in the look of my skin overall but people have said I look younger and my skin looks better.  I do know that it feels smoother and my acne is gone even at that time of the month.  My foundation also goes on a lot smoother and doesn't have that "caked on" look where my skin was so dry.  Only issue I have had is in the morning my skin still looks dry whereas when I was using my regular moisturizer it didn't.  This could be because I'm not using enough for my skin and because it can take up to 90 days to see the full effects of this product I'm willing to keep using it.  It has not helped much with my rosacea but I didn't expect it to.  Overall I think it's a great product and I'm leaning towards using it to replace the several bottles of product I currently use.

  “The manufacturer is willing to offer my readers one FREE bottle. They said they would love to have our readers try out Beautiful A.M. Moisturizer (for women) or You’re the Man A.M. Moisturizer (for men) and agreed to send one bottle FREE if our readers would pay a minimal shipping and handling charge. This is a one-time only offer!  They also agreed to include 2 eye-opening reports – The Poisons You Put On Your Face Everyday and Why Your Skin Care Products Have Never Worked: The Truth Revealed .”  That’s a total value of over $40.00. Click here to get your FREE Bottle and FREE reports now!”

For the giveaway Trusted Health Products is graciously allowing me to giveaway 1 bottle of A.M. Moisturizer to 3 separate winners.  This giveaway is available internationally!  It's limited to one per person though so if you've one elsewhere please do not enter again.  Free shipping and handling on the bottles that are won.  To enter just leave a comment below making sure there's a way I can contact you.  Giveaway ends May 31/2014.

The Pirate Fairy - Movie Passes Giveaway!

Disney's The Pirate Fairy will be available on Blue-ray Combo pack April 1st.  The Pirate Fairy is the latest Disney movie based on Peter Pan.  It's also the fifth film in the Tinker Bell series.  I had no idea there was a Tinker Bell series but now that my kids are old enough to sit through a Disney movie it's time for me to catch up.

In this latest film it's up to Tinker Bell and her friends to go in search of a wayward fairy who has left Pixie Hollow and joined up with the future Captain Hook and his band of pirates.

I have a pack of family passes (4 total) for the screening of The Pirate Fairy taking place on sat Mar 29th at SilverCity Metropolis at 10am.  To enter just leave a comment below of your favourite Disney movie.  Contest open to those who can make the screening at this place and time and ends at midnight on Mar 23rd.

Bikini Body Mommy Challenge

This year one of my resolutions along with millions of others I'm sure, is to workout more.  I decided to follow the Bikini Body Mommy challenge!  For me because I am usually with my 2 kids when I'm not at work I needed something that could be done at home and didn't take up a ton of time or use equipment I don't have.  

The Bikini Body Mommy Challenge is perfect for me!  The challenge lasts 90 days and workouts change between strength training and cardio days.  Most importantly they can be done at home, most are under 20 minutes and I don't need anything more than hand weights.  

I am on day 13 so far and loving it!  I'm feeling stronger, sleeping better and just feel physically and mentally awesome!  The kids are pretty good for the 20 minutes I spend in front of the computer bringing me my yoga mat and chair and doing some of the exercises with me.  There's a fit test that's done a few times along the way that shows you how you are getting stronger.  I'm looking forward to the next 77 days that are left and seeing great results at the end of this challenge.

For my diet I am simply following my fitness pal and using the app on my phone to track my food intake.

What are you doing this year to keep fit?

Weekly Meal Plan

It's a new year so here's to keeping up with my meal plans.  Can't make any promises though as life always gets in the way and now that I'm committed to working out and other stuff blogging my meal plans may fall down the list though I do meal plan for each and every week so it's really not much of an effort for me to post.

1.  Turkey Broccoli Divan - it doesn't say to but I served over rice and this finally used up what was left of the turkey
2.  Cashew Chicken - I cannot find a recipe
3.  Fish + veggies - Just using frozen breaded cod
4.  Pasta sauce - not following a recipe just throwing this together with meat, sauce and lots of veggies than serving mine over zoodles.  The kids will have pasta.
5.  Savory Sausage and Rice Skillet - yum!

Weekly Meal Plan

This week I did not do a big shopping trip.  We are well stocked so it was mostly 2 small trips to get milk and fruits and veggies.  So I don't have much of a meal plan I'm following either but I didn't make everything on the plan last week either so will carry those over and just wing it the other nights.  We always have stuff in the freezer such as chicken nuggets and tortellini that can be made in a pinch if we have been too busy.

For this week I'm thinking:

1.  Pasta and sauce - just macaroni with ground beef, jarred sauce and some veggies thrown in.  I'm trying to lose weight so I have mine with zoodles which are zucchini julienned and omg these are so good!

2.  Tuna casserole - cream soup, noodles, veggies - whatever I have on hand

3.  Butter chicken - not the real thing but we like it - with fresh corn on the cob and green beans

4.  Chicken tortilla soup - haven't made this yet but it sounds delicious

5.  Creamy cauliflower sauce with pasta - another OMG so good!  An awesome healthy alfredo substitute.

Not sure about you but I'm looking forward to fall and comfort foods, Soups, stews, chilis, casseroles and Thanksgiving!!  Anything with pumpkin is good too!

Get Clean Laundry Without Breaking the Bank - #PurexplusOxi and a contest!

My kids are 2 and 3 years old which means LOTS of laundry with lots of stains including blood, dirt, food and potty stains.  There's definitely lots of potty stains at this point!  It's important to find a good laundry detergent that'll work hard at getting these stains out.

I was recently provided with a bottle of Purex plus Oxi detergent for my family to try.  Right off the bat I love that it's a liquid detergent with Oxi and Zout stain removal power and it can also be used as a pretreater for those really tough stains.

My daughter tends to have the dirtiest laundry so I went to work on her clothes first.  The first set of pictures are the before pictures followed by the after pictures.

The skirt had blood stains, the zebra shirt was really dirty from dirt and the pink onesie had strawberry juices all over it.  As you can see from the pictures the Purex plus Oxi did a pretty good job of removing all the stains.  I don't think it's any better than my current detergent but I can't argue with the affordability of Purex and I actually already did have some in my laundry room but not this specific variety.  Purex often goes on sale for $2.99 a bottle making it a great option.  Visit www.purexlaundry.ca for more information.  

Three of my wonderful readers (Canada only) will receive a coupon to try Purex plus Oxi for themselves and see how your laundry will be Bright, White and Clean for less than the other brands.  Enter below on rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Purex provided me with a sample of Purex plus Oxi detergent in exchange for a product review.  However all of the opinions expressed here are my own."

Weekly Meal Plan

I really suck lately about keeping this current.  Something must be done about that.  I've just found this summer to be so busy keeping the kids busy and enjoying the beautiful weather.  We've definitely had a wonderful summer.

So here goes:

1.  Chicken Express - I can find this recipe anywhere but it's basically a chicken stirfry with a soy sauce/vinegar/brown sugar and spices sauce served on rice (or in my case quinoa)

2,  Pasta in Creamy Cauliflower Sauce - I saw this recipe the other day and wanted to try it out but I still have to pickup some cauliflower that isn't half rotten in the store!

3.  Breakfast for dinner - a tradition since I have no time for big breakfasts in the morning so it'll be anything from french toast to pancakes, sausages or waffles.

4.  Chicken nuggets - these are saved for days I'm time crunched for dinner and it has to be in a hurry.  Served with veggies and a pasta side

5.  Quinoa and Black Bean Casserole - I found this when I saw the cauliflower sauce and it looks so good so we'll give it a try too!

Weekly Meal Plan

When I go grocery shopping in order to save money I tend to buy stuff that's on sale on top of my shopping list stuff as it will save me money in the future as when I go to use the item I won't need to buy it at the time and I haven't paid full price for it.  Well eventually this leads to a freezer full of stuff and half the time I don't even know what's in there.  So last week I didn't even go grocery shopping and just threw together meals with what we had.  Then I made a list of what we have in both freezers and based this weeks shopping list off of what is in the freezer and didn't buy anything extra as we need to use this stuff up.  So this weeks meals are:

1. Burgers - we had leftovers from my daughters birthday party
2. Chicken nuggets - for the day I won't have time to cook a full meal
3. Tortellini - I saved these for after spending the day at the waterslides and don't want to cook as this can be made in 10 minutes
4. Zucchini Pizza Casserole - for all the ground beef I have in the freezer
5. Cashew Chicken and Pasta - I can't find the recipe online and I realized that I bought almonds instead of cashews so it'll be almond chicken and pasta

I never tend to do a full week of dinners as there's always lots of leftovers which we'll eat for another night or 2.

Happy Father's Day!

I'm so happy my kids have such a wonderful, caring, loving person in their lives they call "Daddy!"  

Menu Plan Monday

1.  Waffles, sausages and eggs - I am up and out the door most of the time while the kids sleep so there's never time to cook a big breakfast which is why I decided to make it for dinner once every week or two.
2.  Creamy Pesto Chicken and Bowtie Pasta - yummy!
3.  Cottage Meatloaf - I don't care for meatloaf but love this one!
4.  Beef and Bean Taco Casserole - I LOVE this!
5.  Saucy Pork Medallions with some sort of potato side

Taylor's First Two Years!

There's a lot of milestones and changes the first two years as baby goes from helpless newborn to rambunctious toddler!  I love that I've been able to capture most if not all in pictures and on video to show her when she's older.  The following are some of my favourite moments and milestones:

Here she is a few minutes old after a fairly quick and easy delivery.

Pushing her upper body up on her elbows at 5 months old.  She had some gross motor delays due to hypotonia (muscle weakness) that a cause was never found for.

First foods at just after 6 months old.  She wouldn't eat baby cereals so we went right into avocado and it still took her another month or so before she took to eating solids.  I also discovered that she liked to feed herself so we did some baby led weaning.

7 months old and sitting on her own!  She toppled a lot though in the beginning so we kept her surrounded in pillows.  She couldn't get to this position on her own though.

Taylor crawling at 10.5 months!  She'd been getting physio every month or 2 at this point and they would give us exercises to help her get stronger.  Her weakness was mostly in the legs so this was definitely a big milestone! 

The biggest milestone of all though was Taylor walking at just shy of 16 months old!  Not only did this mean more fun for her but no more pesty appointments with doctors and physiotherapists!  

Last but not least this is the smart, pretty, stubborn almost 2 year old she is today!

Looking back I can't believe how much she's changed in these last 2 years but I've enjoyed every minute of it and being able to capture and share these moments!  

"Disclosure - I am part of the Natrel Baboo Blogger Campaign with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own."

Spring Is Here! - #LMDConnector

Spring is finally here and after months of cold weather and figuring out what to do inside it was nice to be able to set up the picnic table and enjoy an afternoon snack outside with the kids.  For such an occasion we decided to make Chocolate Banana Coffee Cake.  I saw the recipe in a magazine and we had several frozen bananas I needed to use up.

In one bowl combine 3 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 2tsp baking soda.  In a separate bowl (mine was too small!) combine 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar.  To the same bowl blend in 2 eggs then add 2 1/2 cups bananas (about 5) and 1 tsp vanilla and mix well.  Then the flour mixture is slowly added to the moist mixture alternately with 1 cup of sour cream.  

Don't worry about over mixing this one.  It's why I don't like making muffins; I tend to over mix stuff.  

Add half the batter to a sprayed 9 x 13 pan.  Mix 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon then sprinkle half of this mixture on top of the batter.  Top with 1/2 of a 300 gram package of chocolate chips.  Repeat the layers.  I didn't get a clear picture of the cake before it went into the oven.  

The finished product was as delicious as it looks and the kids gobbled up every bite.  They preferred this over any banana bread or banana muffins I've made in the past.  We're looking forward to many more backyard picnics and trying out other new and delicious recipes.  Check out the Life Made Delicious website  for inspiration to make spring more yummy!  

"Dislosure - I am part of the Life Made Delicious Ambassador program and receive special perks as part of my affiliation.  All opinions on this blog are my own."

General Mills Partners with Dairy Queen and Orange Julius Offering Canadians Some Sweet Treats! - #LMDConnector

Growing up I have fond memories of Dairy Queen.  My grandfather lived only a couple blocks from one and we'd go visit him then after dinner or as a treat we'd make the short walk to Dairy Queen and he would buy us whatever we liked.  At the time I used to love banana splits!  My grandpa has since passed but I still remember little things like this.  General Mills has partnered with Dairy Queen and Orange Julius to help families make memories of their own.

Starting April 1 on specially marked boxes of General Mills cereal you will have the opportunity to get two coupons.  The first coupon is for an Orange Julius small beverage and the second is for a small Blizzard treat.  

Between April 1 and July 31st the Orange Julius coupon can be redeemed at any Dairy Queen location in Canada so while you're out and about make sure to pick up this small treat for yourself.

Between May 1 and May 31st the small Blizzard treat coupon can be redeemed at any Dairy Queen in Canada.  I'm sure any kid would enjoy this tasty little treat!

My kids are still young and haven't experienced Dairy Queen yet so I'll for sure make a point to use my coupons to take them there this spring and see what they think!  I hope when they're older they'll have great memories of Dairy Queen too!

" Disclosure - I am participating in the Life Made Delicious Ambassador Program for Mom Central Canada on behalf of General Mills.  I received compensation as thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion.  The opinions on this blog are my own."