Holly’s Happenings

I know that the products I had for my children when they were small were much better and far more advanced than the products that were available when I was in the first few years of my life. For instance, when I was a baby, car seats weren’t used, let alone mandatory. My mom has told me stories about how she would hold me in her arms when we were in the car (She didn’t have a drivers license, so she didn’t drive when I was a baby). My point is that technology had advanced in a big way from the time I was born until my children were born, and it has only gotten better since!

My children are a little more than 2 years apart in age, and one of the things that made my life the easiest when they were small was a good stroller! One of the worst things about strollers, even 13 years ago, was the fact that they were heavy and awkward! On top of that, if you wanted to take it anywhere that didn’t offer paved walks or smooth floors, you played heck trying to push it!

Parents these days have the benefit of advanced technology as well as the experiences from parents like me to thank for things like the Bugaboo stroller. These are, without a doubt, one of the most awesome strollers I have ever came across and I wish like heck they had these when my kids were little! Not only are they nice to look at, they are also light weight, compact, very well built and offer parents the ability to not only use them in places that offer paved paths and finished floors, they can easily be used in areas with rough terrain like paths and grassy areas!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that strollers had advanced from what they were when I was a small child to where they were when my own children were small, but a Bugaboo stroller would have been nice to have had VS the strollers that were available when my children were small!

Although I had heard this word on various TV shows, I honestly had no clue as to what a Pashmina shawl was until my recent road trip to California. During our first leg of the trip I was supposed to rest while my best friend’s daughter drove so that when she got tired, I could relieve her and take over driving. I got settled in in the back seat of the car and was enjoying the drive for a while before I finally got tired enough that I felt like I could take a nap.

Unfortunately, the one thing that I hadn’t packed was any sort of blanket or throw to cover up with while in the car. I honestly didn’t think about packing one, but even if I had, I wouldn’t have had room to pack one anyway. But my best friend came to my rescue, as she always has, and handed me her Pashmina shawl. Let me tell you, this shawl was not only enough to keep me cozy while resting, it was also the softest blanket I had ever felt!

According to Wikipedia, “Pashmina refers to a type of fine cashmere wool and the textiles made from it”, it goes on to say “The name comes from Pashmineh, made from Persian pashm. This wool comes from changthangi or pashmina goat, which is a special breed of goat indigenous to high altitudes of the Himalayas.” While I’ve never ever been a fan of wool, after using Lisa’s Pashmina, I definitely will be scoping out good deals so that I can get one of my own!

When I was a toddler it was discovered that I had feet and leg problems. I was pigeon toed, knock kneed and my right foot came way out of stride when I was walking. Because of this I spent MANY years in leg braces and corrective shoes. It didn’t bother me too much until I hit 7th grade. That was the first year that gym class was a requirement, which meant my parents needed to buy me a pair of sneakers.

For most kids, sneakers were a common part of their wardrobe, but for me, that was not an option. There was no such thing as corrective sneakers, so my parents simply would not allow me to have a pair. But since sneakers were a requirement for gym class, my parents “gave in” and allowed me to have a pair, but only if I promised them that I would only wear them for gym, which of course I promised them I’d do. But, I was also the “typical” teen, because even though I promised them I wouldn’t wear them outside of gym class, I did…LOL! From the moment I got to school my not so pretty corrective shoes came off and those oh so coveted sneakers went on!

I did eventually outgrow the bulk of the problems with my feet and legs, with the exception of my right foot swinging way out of stride when I walk. And corrective shoes and leg braces haven’t been a part of my life for many, many years. However, wearing cheap flip flops or sneakers simply isn’t an option for me. If I do wear them, within a short amount of time, my feet and legs are in pain.

Fortunately today there are hundreds of options for footwear that is not only comfortable but they are also very trendy looking! One of the brands that I look for when I’m shopping for shoes is Merrell shoes. They offer several different types of footwear (i.e. shoes, sandals, clogs, boots) in many different styles and they are SOOOOOOO comfortable! It’s been a few years since I’ve owned a pair of Merrell’s, mostly because they are hard to find in my area and I’m a bit leery of buying shoes online. But the last pair I owned was a pair of clogs similar to these. They were probably the most comfortable pair of shoes that I have ever owned and even though they were clogs, I wore them year round, even in the winter with several inches of snow on the ground. The only reason I’m not wearing them now is that when Harley was a puppy, he decided one of them would make a great chew toy. Hopefully I’ll be able to replace them some day!

It’s been a little while since I’ve talked about my WONDERFUL memory foam bed, so I thought I’d give you a few updates. As you know from this post, my new bed arrived safe and sound on February 5th. It just so happened that my daughter was home from school that day, so between she and I we were able to tear my old bed down and get my new one set up! Set up for my PacDown Plus mattress and foundation was actually very easy. The instructions for the foundation were simple and easy to follow and we were both laughing over how small the memory foam mattress was in it’s packaging compared to the actual size of it once it came out of it’s packaging!

I’m not going to tell you that going from a standard inner spring mattress to my Bed In A Box memory foam mattress was an easy adjustment. It took a few nights before my body finally adjusted to sleeping on this wonderful mattress. I will tell you, however, that the pain I normally feel in my back and hips when I wake up in the morning, diminished almost immediately from the first morning I woke up! And after almost 2 months of sleeping on my PacDown Plus memory foam mattress, I experience virtually none of the normal aches and pains that I have always had when I wake up in the mornings!

This wonderful bed has completely changed my life! No longer do I spend days dealing with severe back pain from the moment I wake up, nor do I wake up in the morning feeling tired. Instead I wake up pain free and rested! I may not always get the amount of hours of sleep that I should, but I’m now getting a much better quality of sleep than I EVER have before!

So my heartfelt thanks go out to BedInABox.com for allowing me to have such a wonderful product!

So very often I focus on the bills or the kids when I have a little extra money. It is honestly very difficult for me to spend money on myself, and even more so when the purchase isn’t something that I’d need or use on a daily basis. But there has been something that I’ve wanted to buy for a long time, something that I knew I would use often, but it wasn’t an inexpensive item, so I’ve had a hard time justifying the purchase.

I recently won some extra money and told myself that this time I WAS going to use part of it on something for me. I thought about it for a few days, but just couldn’t decide what I wanted to buy. I needed some new clothes, but not badly enough to tell myself buying them was necessary. Being a female, there is always the thought of buying a new pair of shoes or a purse, but my mother bought me a new pair of shoes a couple of weeks ago and I got a new purse for Christmas, so those weren’t necessary purchases. See what I mean about having a hard time purchasing something for myself? I ALWAYS talk myself out of buying something. But yesterday was different, kind of…LOL!

I went to the store yesterday to buy stuff that I needed to bake some cookies. Although I LOVE baking, I do not like my mixer! It’s your general, every day hand mixer and it just does not have enough power! For many, many years I’ve wanted to buy a nice stand mixer, but it’s one of those purchases that I just could not justify! Yes, there are inexpensive ones, but what person that bakes a lot has not dreamed of having a nice Kitchen Aid stand mixer? But even their basic model costs around $200, and it only has 275 watts of power, which isn’t that much more than a hand held mixer. So I went to the kitchen appliance aisle and started looking at mixers. Yes, they had the Kitchen Aid one for $200, but I noticed something else that caught my eye! On the shelf above the Kitchen Aid mixer they had a Sunbeam stand mixer. Its price tag read $89 and change, less than half the price of the Kitchen Aid, but how did it compare in the important areas?

It had 350 watts of power, compared to 250 watts, it had 12 different mix speeds, the bowl position was adjustable and it came with regular mixing beaters as well as special beaters for dough mixing, which is a must have for me! I picked the box up and put it in my cart and went about the rest of my shopping, I was going to spoil myself for a change! After I had gotten everything on my list I looked in my cart and seen the mixer and had a sudden guilt attack. Yes the Sunbeam mixer was half the price of the Kitchen Aid one, but I could still think of several other ways I could spend the money. So I headed back over to the aisle I got it from to put it back.

About that same time my cell phone rang, it was mu husband and he was on his lunch break and called to see what I was doing. I told him that I had gone to the store to pick up the things I needed and then I told him about how I almost purchased the mixer. He asked me to tell him about it and after I did he said “Don’t you dare consider putting it back on the shelf, you’ve wanted a good mixer for as long as I can remember, the bills are paid and there is NO reason for you not to do something for yourself for a change”. I did try to argue with him, but in the end he prevailed. Yes, it was something that I have wanted for a very long time, but it’s still difficult for me to justify it…LOL!

So, if you don’t see me for the next few days it’s because I’m making cookies and bread with my new mixer…LOL! I don’t want to go too overboard on the baking though, because if I do I’ll end up having to go out and buy myself some home gym equipment to work off all the weight..LOL! But I love to bake and after mixing up a batch of peanut butter cookies with my new mixer last night, I’m VERY happy I finally did something for myself! Is it the mixer I’ve dreamed of owning? No, but it’s perfectly fine for what I need and it was less than half the price! And, it’s VERY pretty!! SEE!!

I’m so amazed about all of the amazing things you can purchase online and what amazes me even more is the fact that I can go to one site and find almost everything I need and/or want. That’s why buy.com rocks this country girls world! Buy.com offers one of the biggest selections of the top rated name brand items you can think of at the most amazing prices! Did you know that you could go to Buy.com right now and purchase a 4GB iPod Nano for only $140.49? What’s that you say? That’s exactly what you’ve been looking for and the price is better than every other one you’ve priced? Well then stop reading this and go find out exactly why buy.com rocks for yourself and grab that iPod before it’s gone!

While you’re there be sure to check out Ryan Seacrest’s Deal of the Day, see What’s Shakin’ with Howie Mandel and watch is own Buy.com videos, and be sure to take a peek at their weekly deals! They also let you know what their competetors prices are on the items you are searching for, and sometimes their competetor might be a little less expensive, but make sure you check and see if they also offer FREE shipping like Buy.com does. If they don’t, then get back to THE best Internet Superstore there is! Buy.com also offers first time buyers $10 off any purchase of $10 or more, how awesome of a deal is that? Say they offer something you want and/or need for $12, it’s yours for just $2 with that great deal!

While you’re checking things out, take a peek at the commercial I made telling why I think Buy.com ROCKS! It’s kind of corny, but I had a TON of fun making it, so if you enjoyed it please be sure to let me know. But whatever you do make sure you head over to Buy.com and let them ROCK YOUR WORLD!

I just wanted to stop in and let you know that if you don’t hear from me for an extended period of time, there’s no need to call out the National Guard!  My memory foam bed from BedInABox.com arrived today and it’s all set up and put together (with some help from my daughter).  This is, without a doubt, the most comfortable bed I have ever laid on!  I’m seriously considering relocating my computer so that I don’t have to leave it…LOL!

If you’re wondering exactly which bed it is that I won, it is the Queen sized 11″ PacDown Plus as well as the foundation.  They actually have a special going on right now on this set, so if you want to check it out for yourself you can see it HERE.  While you’re checking that out, I’ll be napping!

And imagine that you pull up next to me at a stop light. You look over, admiring my car and notice that I’m motioning for you to roll down your window. You roll your window down trying to imagine what I might need when I lean out the window and ask you, “Pardon me, but would you have any Grey Poupon“?

I was recently asked if I would try two of Grey Poupon’s newest mustards and give my honest review.  Since I’ve always been a mustard gal, I was very glad to be able to take part in this product review!  I waited anxiously all week for my delivery to arrive and it finally came yesterday!  When I opened the box I was thrilled to find out that I had been given a jar of Grey Poupon hearty spicy brown as well as Grey Poupon harvest coarse ground mustards.  The hearty spicy brown is an AWESOME mustard made with yellow onions and the harvest coarse ground is made with whole mustard seeds.

For my first try of the mustards I took the recipe that is at the Grey Poupon website for Saucy Summertime Hot Dogs and made some alterations to it with ingredients I actually had on hand.  The recipe calls for chopped tomatoes, dill pickles, onions and pepperoncini, you  then mix in 2 TBSP of Grey Poupon hearty spicy brown mustard.  I took some red, green and yellow bell peppers that I had and sliced them, then sliced some sweet onion and banana peppers and sauteed all ingredients in a little bit of butter before I mixed in the Grey Poupon hearty spicy brown mustard, then topped the hot dogs with this.  I also added a little bit of shredded cheese to mine.  Let me tell you, it was AWESOME!  Even my hubby and son said that they loved it!  Here is a picture of how the hot dogs turned out.

For dinner tonight, I wanted to make something that would allow me to use the Grey Poupon hearty coarse ground mustard.  Although they have many recipes on the Grey Poupon website, I couldn’t find one that I thought my whole family would eat, so I decided to try out something that would be my own creation.  I decided that I’d take the hearty coarse ground mustard and add some honey and melted butter to it and use it as a “glaze” for part of a ham that I had in the freezer.  After mixing the three ingredients together I drizzled them over the ham and baked it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or so.  (Yes, it was a precooked ham)  The result was a kind of sweet kind of spicy flavor that my family was a bit leery to try.  But after I convinced them that I had no doubt they would like it, we all sat down to dinner.  I’m THRILLED to say that dinner ended with four completely clean plates!  Here is a picture of my ham before we sat down to devour it!

Since I’m a mustard gal, I had no doubt that I would enjoy trying out these two varieties of Grey Poupon mustard.  What I didn’t know was hot only how much I would enjoy them, but how much my family would enjoy them as well!  I like adding new options to the foods we eat, and it’s always a good thing when you have two kids who are VERY picky eaters, who enjoy the new options as well!  So if you’ve been looking for something new to give your favorite recipes a kick, I highly recommend  both of these varieties of Grey Poupon mustard!

They say that you learn something new every day.  Most days, I can’t remember what it is I’ve learned, if I learn anything at all….LOL!  But today I learned something that made me go WOW!

Last spring I purchased this monitor:

I have loved this monitor since the day I hooked it up!  It is an HPw2207 22 inch wide screen monitor.  Rather than having the matted screen like most newer flat panel monitor have it instead has a glossy screen.  I do love the clarity of the glossy screen, but my biggest peeve with it is that it is the most horrible thing to clean!  I have yet to find a way to clean it that doesn’t leave streaks.  But that’s NOT what this post is about, I didn’t learn a way to clean it today, I instead learned that it can do THIS

This is the most AMAZING thing I have ever seen!  I loved my monitor when it was horizontally wider, but it made many websites look “odd”, especially if it was an off centered website or one that only used the far left side of the screen.  With my monitor now being vertically wide, OMG, not only do sites look better because they’re not being stretched out so badly, but I actually get the full length of the page, which is a better option in my book!

Now, if you’re wondering what too me SOOOOOOOOO long to realize that this monitor flipped like it does, well, as embarrassed as I am to admit this, I never read the owners manual…..LOL!  I found out because I was at HP’s website checking out computers and seen that if I ordered a monitor identical to mine with a new computer from HP, the monitor would be well over $100 less than what I paid for mine.  That made me curious so I went directly to the monitors page where I seen a graphic showing it being flipped…LOL!

That made my day!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my monitor now…LOL!

These past couple of weeks have been hectic! I’ve had one heck of a cold/sinus infection, then we had Christmas and on top of that my husband has been working the strangest hours ever! When you add all of that together it makes for some very short nights! And the bed that my husband and I currently have is the bed that we purchased shortly after we were married. I’m not complaining, I mean, I could be sleeping on a park bench in the cold, so I honestly don’t have it that bad. But this bed has definitely seen it’s better days!

When we moved in August of 2005 the guys that helped us move thought it would be a good idea to stand our top mattress up on the trailer we were using to move. It wouldn’t have been that bad of a thing, except for the fact that everything around it was short, so during the drive here, the wind and force from the movement of going down the road literally bent the mattress over, so we now have a top mattress that folds like a taco…LOL! Over the years the corners have worn and if you’re not careful when you walk past it and happen to bump up against the corners, the springs will leave a not so pretty cut on your leg that turns into an even less pretty scar.

We realize that it’s necessary to replace it ASAP, but we just can’t bring ourselves to spend the money, we always think of other places that it can be spent. We’ve even purchased new beds for both kids within the past couple of years, as we continue to sleep on our taco..LOL! I’ve seriously looked at memory foam mattress because I’ve heard that they are awesome for people like me who deal with chronic back pain. I made a little video about BedInABox.com, check it out and let me know what you think!

Yes, I know, that’s a phrase made popular by a frog, but in all honesty, it needs to be a phrase made popular by people as well! Our environment needs us to give it a hand by changing things that we do and how we do them! As consumers, we can make small changes in the products we use and the way that we do things that will greatly help our environment and the world around us. Simple things like reusing plastic water bottles by refilling them, rather than throwing them away. Did you know that by purchasing an on the tap water filter and refilling your water bottles you not only save money on the cost of purchasing more bottled water, but you also reduce the amount of trash that goes into landfills.

Companies like GreenAndMore.com are helping consumers educate themselves about the things that they can do to help our environment. They offer hundreds of top rated eco friendly green products on their website ranging from things like cleaning products and solar lighting to bedding and home decor. They also have a section of their website that gives consumers all kinds of information about things like recycling for businesses and consumers, energy efficiency, green building and renovation and many other topics about being earth friendly.

Besides giving consumers information and products that will help them live a greener life, GreenAndMore.com also lives their mission of being green by following green practices in the running of their company. They make sure that they use no plasticware, they use recycled office goods and they ship their products in cardboard boxes that are made from 100% recycled materials. They also support various environmental charities like Oceana and Healthy Child Healthy World.

Above and beyond the vast array of green products they offer, I think the part of their website I enjoy the most is their Green Learning Center. It is a wealth of information on everything that we need to do in order to lead green lives and is filled with the most top notch articles available from places like the EPA and US Dept. of Energy. And they are offering 10% off your purchase when you shop from their website. What could be better than going green AND saving money in the process?

One of my family’s favorite meals is breakfast. Although most people eat breakfast in the mornings, we quite often make “breakfast dinners”. When we make our breakfast dinners, one of the things that is a must is bacon. I’m sure you are well aware of how messy it is to make bacon in a pan or on a griddle, and the downside to many microwave bacon cookers is the fact that the bacon lies in it’s own grease while it’s being cooked. So when I heard about The CrispyClean® Bacon Broiler, I realized it was a product that I had to try!

At first glance this nifty microwave bacon cooker looks like one of those pitchers you get water in when you are in the hospital, but don’t let it’s looks fool you!

It comes with an easy to follow instruction sheet that has full color pictures that show you step by step how to use the cooker!

Basically, you load a single strip of bacon onto each vane of the cooker, up to a total of 6 strips of bacon at a time. You then pat the strips onto the vanes, the instruction sheet showed them using a knife, but I used my fingers. You then put the tip of the vaned rack through the slotted lid, rotate the lid to keep the vane from falling out, lower the rack into the cup and lock the top to the cup using the small black keys that are on the outside of the top.

The suggested cooking time is 30 seconds per slice of bacon for a microwave that is 1000 watts. Since my microwave oven is VERY old, I had no idea what wattage it was, and since it has been known to use less time to cook things than what the package was, I initially cooked 6 pieces of bacon for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. At that time, the bacon wasn’t as crisp as what my family prefers so I emptied out the liquid from the bottom of the cup and put it back in for 1 minute, which gave us bacon cooked exactly the way we like it! SEE!!

We ended up deciding to have BLT’s for dinner, so we cooked the entire package of bacon. There were a total of 14 strips of bacon in the package so we had to use the cooker for 2 full batches of bacon and then 2 strips for the last batch. All in all I am very pleased with the CrispyClean® Bacon Broiler, it did make the chore of cooking bacon much cleaner. It will also make it very easy if I decide I want to make some bacon during the week when it is just the kids and I or if one of the kids would like bacon and eggs or pancakes for breakfast on a school morning.

So if you have been looking at or considering purchasing a microwave bacon cooker, this one gets two thumbs up from me and my family!