I love me some Jillian!

I'm having a really bad day, so I have decided to do what makes me happy. I made a layout using photos of my much-loved daughter Jillian :)

Boy, digiscrappin' is FUN!

I'm learning!

I know this is small potatoes to so many people who are talented in the digital scrapping world (read- MEGAN!), but I'm finally taking baby steps in learning how to make my own stuff.

Here is my first paper! Weeeee!

I have no idea how to share it so that others can use it, but it's kind of a common type of paper anyway, so no biggie. I'm just excited that I could actually make something of my own. A small accomplishment. Oh happy day. :)

Not too Shabby!

Instead of trying a food or cleaning product on Try it Tuesday, I want you to "try" a new website instead!

I have to plug my sweet friend Megan's website! She is, and always has been, a very talented person! (I thnk she gets that from her Mommy).
She has her own ~new~website that has the most shabbilicious *FREE* blog backgrounds! Holy cuteness! You have to check it out. She also has the most awesome blinkies and buttons for your blog....all free. I have a couple on my sidebar already. How sweet of her to offer her talents up to the rest of the bloggers of the world.

Here is a quote from her website, Shabby Blogs:

Your home may be where your story begins, but your blog is where your story is told. Here at Shabby Blogs, we believe everyone deserves to tell their story in style!

Now get on over to Shabby
Blogs today and enjoy a new shabby blog background that is just your style! Megan is
adding new things all the time. Don't delay...make your blog more YOU today!

Oh, and notice that I'm using one of her backgrounds myself for this blog. Guess what it's called? Yep, it's called, Leanne! Megan is so generous and thoughtful. I can't say I'll keep using the same background long though. Megan has fabulous taste. And with so many backgrounds to choose from, she makes me want to change mine every day!

I love Megan. -sigh-

Try it Tuesday....Glade Fragrance Collection Soy Candles

Glade soy candles are part of The Fragrance Collection. As I've said before, I am a Bzz Agent and they frequently send me free products in their kits to sample and then review. This campaign for the Glade soy candle has been one of my favs so far!

For starters, they did an awesome job presenting the product with a pretty box with the information tucked into a vellum envelope. It even had fancy envelopes to share coupon cards with my friends. Those envelopes even had little scratch 'n sniff type smellies. But do you think I took photos of all of this? Of course not. This is me after all.

-Sigh-. I always mean to document things through photos and then forget. My nice camera is still broke, so I've been using Jillian's Canon. I'm sure she is just thrilled that Mom steals her camera all the time.

Anyway, if you would like to see what the packaging "looked" like, check out this person's review. See? She was was smart enough to take photos before she talked about her Bzz kit.

Anyway, this kit was beautiful. I think they did a great job on presentation, but was I going to base my opinion on presentation alone? Nope. I tried to be neutral...at first.

You had me at hello Glade! I couldn't help but love these candles from first look. I'm mean, really...just look at it!
Cute as a button! A nice looking, solid, 3 wick candle in a glass jar with a cute tin lid. Beautiful.

The scent that was sent to me (hee hee) was the Currants & Acai. It was wonderful! Very aromatic before I even lit it. Of course I had to light it right away. Especially since we had a flood in our basement recently and I was still trying to cover up the musty smell. The candle sure worked. Yes, it's just about the same as a Yankee or any other high end candle. This includes both the long lasting scent as well as the look. Plus, soy candles win me over most of the time anyway.

Here are some of the reasons that I will buy these candles again and again....

First of all, the are soy. Meaning noooo sooty smoke.

Second, they are strong smelling. I tested them against my Woodwick candles. What I do is go to the opposite end of the house away from the candle burning. I start walking and note where I'm at when I smell the candle. (yes, my house is long...one candle will NOT fill my whole house with it's aromatic smell). Sooo...the results are this. I notice the Woodwick about ONE step before the Glade soy candle. Not too shabby!

Third, like I said before, the soy candles from Glade are upscale looking. I just love that tin lid.

Fourth, they have over 90% natural ingredients.

Fifth, I don't have to head to the mall or gift shop to buy them! I can just head on over to Wal-mart or Target.

Actually, my sixth reason should be the second. They have *gReAt* fragrance choices:

Lotus Bamboo--lotus notes with a touch of citrus on a bamboo base.

Currants & Acai -- Tart red currants combined with the tanginess of the Acai berry.

Sheer White Cotton -- Floral, fruity and woody notes, including freesia and lime. (I bought this one! It's fabulous)

McIntosh Apple -- The crisp scent of fresh picked apples, crisp and juicy, yet slightly tart.

Earthly Awakening -- Nature-inspired fragrances for a mellow and soothing scent.

Orange Vanilla -- A favorite treat of fresh oranges with a rich, creamy vanilla.

Seventh, yes, there is a 7th! You can pick up these Glade soy candles in 2 different sizes. A 10 ounce (the one I received, about $8.99 each) that burns up to 35 hours, or a smaller 4.9 ounce that burns 26 hours (about $5.99 each). Now, don't expect the smaller one to be as cute. It has a plastic lid. :( Oh, and the Glade Fragrance collection also has reed diffusers in the same scents. Mmm.

Now for the one drawback. You did expect a drawback didn't you? Ok, maybe not, but here it is. Some stores have these candles in their grocery aisles (hello Wal-mart?!) and they get shuffled around and the cute tins get dented & scratched. Not so cute anymore. I was also at my local Meijer store where they have these candles in with all the other candles away from the grocery aisles. Did I find dented tins? Yes. Plus some scratched ones too. I suppose grocery chains don't take the care that a gift shop would. I also could not find all of the scents in one place. I never even saw the Lotus Bamboo or the Orange Vanilla. I'm dying to try the Orange Vanilla.

Now for some *AWESOME* news for YOU! Nope, I'm not going to offer you any coupons, although I did receive some in my Bzz kit. The following deal is much better.

I stumbled upon a way for you to get 2 of the small size Glade soy candles for ~FREE!~ Oh wait, did I say free? I meant, free PLUS get a some money back from Target! Go to Target and you will see they have a sign by the Fragrance Collection of Glade soy candles that says buy *2* 4.9 ounce candles at $5.79 each, get a $5 gift card. Well, I also have a link for a printable coupon! Buy those candles using two of these coupons that are good for $4 off of ANY Glade Fragrance Collection soy candles. Put all that together and you have *better* than free! Weeeee! You must do this before May 1st, so don't dilly daddle. Hurry and print those coupons and get your fanny over to Target pronto. No, I haven't tried this deal yet, but I plan to tomorrow. :) By the way, does anyone ever really say, "dilly daddle" anymore? Geesh.

EDIT: Ok, well, it seems that the $4 off coupon has expired. I'm disappointed because it was still working when I posted this. But...not to worry...I still have some $3 off fragrance cards that you may use. Just let me know if you would like one and I will mail it to you. Leave me a comment and let me know if you would like one. Even with a $3 off coupon, you still get a good deal at Target :) Oh, and I know Ebay has some Glade coupons that might save you a bit too.

2nd EDIT: All of the coupons for the Glade soy candles are spoken for. Thanks everyone!

Try it Tuesday.....Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats Little Bites!

My oh my. I have a *new* favorite cereal! Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats Little Bites in chocolate flavor!

I spied these in an ad and then spied them on the shelf at my local Meijer grocery store.

The box is small, but still contains 14.5 ounces of cereal. It was kind of expensive, but I wanted to try it anyway. I bet if I get them at Wal-mart and have a coupon, I can save some money. I know a lot of people don't like Wal-mart, but in this economy, I need to save where I can.

Let's get to the nutritionals first. A serving size is 52 biscuits! Ok, ok..don't get too excited. I did say they were, "mini" bites. A 52 biscuit serving is actually 55 grams. I ate the whole box (not at once! What do you take me for people?!) so I can't go back and measure how much 55 grams is, but the box does say there are 7 servings in the whole thing.

Each serving has 200 calories, 2 grams of fat (half of that being saturated) and 6 grams of fiber. I love me some fiber! 6 grams is pretty good. With 5 grams of protein and that 6 grams of fiber, I feel full after a bowl of these babies. They do have 45 grams of carbs though. But I believe diabetics can subtract the fiber from the carbs which would make 39 carbs.

Ok, on to the taste! Well, let's start with how they look. They are cute as a button. Teeny weeny little mini wheats! Ok, I'm going all crazy about this cereal and it's making me sound creepy. Cereal creepy. Sorry.

Seriously though, these little bites of cereal are about half the size of regular mini wheats. I like this because with regular mini wheats, I have to kind of wait for them to soak a little bit of the milk before I can eat them. Nothing is less fun to eat than hard, dry mini wheats. Ick. With the little bites, they quickly soak up that milk.

How do they taste? Well, they are mini-licious! I really like them. They are cocoa-ey, yet it's not sickeningly sweet at all. I can't say they would cure me if I needed a chocolate fix though. It's just not that kind of chocolate. It almost reminds me of how the hot cereal, chocolate Cream of Wheat tastes. But much better of course.

The main reason I like this cereal is the texture. I'm a weird person when it comes to eating certain foods. I enjoy my food a little more if there is a good texture. Weird, I know. Anyway, these Mini Wheat Little Bites have a little something inside that gives them a bit of a soft crunch. I hope that describes it well. After eating them, I wondered what it was, so I looked at the ingredients and low and behold, I found out they are mini chocolate chips! Next time I eat them, I'm going to tear one apart to actually see the chips, because I didn't really taste actual chocolate chips when I ate them. I only enjoyed the soft crunch thinking it was the wheat part.

This is a "hide from the kids" kind of cereal because I know they would eat the whole box in one day if I didn't moniter them! Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats Little Bites also come in Honey Nut flavor. Has anyone else tried that flavor? Because I have yet to do so. I'm wondering if it's as good as the chocolate.

Next week I might turn away from reviewing food and weigh in on one of the Bzz Agent products I was recently sent. They are sending me quite a few lately. I love free stuff and I don't mind giving my thoughts on the products. It's fun to get little things (and sometimes BIG things!) in the mail. Weeeeee!

Happy Easter To All My Blogging Friends

Please let us all remember what today truly represents. May you enjoy this inspiring and beautiful Easter message no matter what your religious denomination.

Something To Think About Saturday

For Steven VK & Jim S.

Baaad Mama....again!

Dumb....da dumb dumb. I did it again!

This time I receive my own, "Bad Mom" award because I have a big mouth.

Our small, irritating dog, Minnie likes to yipe at everyone and everything. It's annoying so I find myself yelling at her all the time. Not at the top of my lungs or anything, but nevertheless I scold her frequently.

So of course one day I was annoyed at her barking and told her to, "shut up". So now...every time Minnie barks too much, guess who tells her to, "shut up"?? Yep. 23 month old Ava.

I'm such a baaaaad Mama. -sigh-

Try it Tuesday....Trim Water

Another flavored water review! Exciting!

Ok, maybe not so exciting to you. But I love flavored water. :)

I know some people are very worried about artificial sweeteners. Everything in moderation I say. But I'm not here to debate the artificial sweetener facts/possible side effects etc. I just want to review some flavored water ok people? :)

Besides, Trim Water doesn't even have artificial sweetener. There are 3 grams of sugar to be exact. In the whole 20 ounce bottle. It's crystalline fructose. From what I understand, crystalline fructose is just fructcose but in a dried, chrystalized form. It's supposed to have less calories and has long been used in food products like yogurt etc.

I don't pretend to be an expert on the subject of crystalline fructose, but if you want to know more, check out some facts here.

With that being said, I have to say thank-you to the Trim Water company for sending me a whole box of their many flavors to try. How generous. I'm like a kid at Christmas when I get a package in the mail. Weeeee!

To me, the most important thing about flavored water, is usually the taste. But when a bottle touts the word, "trim", I want to know what's in it and how it's going to "trim" me. Here are the nutrition facts and ingredients in Trim Water:

Let's break this down....
Chromium: According to the Trim Water site, Chromium will stablize blood sugar and provide energy. Yep, I've heard of Chromium Picolinate pills for weight loss.

Glucosamine Hydrochloride: Anti-inflammatory; keeps glucose in the blood longer.

Caffeine: We all know this aids in lowering matabolism and provides energy.

Hydroxycitric Acid: Promotes weight loss by helping to supress appetite.

Ok, this all sounds great. But I'm a bit leary of the caffeine. I don't like to consume caffeine in large amounts. Trim Water has 50 mg's of the stuff! All my life, I've been taught to not consume things in excess that are addictive or bad for my body. So, sadly, Trim Water could never be a staple in my diet because of the caffeine alone. The other things? I don't know much about them. But because of the caffeine, I really have no reason to even go look up the pros or cons of them in the product. :(

I did, however, taste test each kind of Trim Water that was sent to me so that I can give an accurate review of the flavors.

They come in these flavors:

Pomegranate-Cranberry
Pink Grapefruit-Honey
Peach-Mango
Lemon-Citrus
Blueberry-Pear
Raspberry-Vanilla
Black Cherry-BlackBerry
and the new Passionfruit-Berry

My favorite was the Raspberry Vanilla. The rest were good, but I felt like some had a bit of an after taste (Lemon-Citrus). I had a friend try a bit and she said the same thing, yet she still liked them. I kind of wished the flavors were stronger.

One good thing about Trim Water, was that all the flavors are clear. No funky staining colors (can you say Crystal Light??) to ruin your clothing or stain your tongue.

The bottle design isn't so impressive to me. Not that I drink beverages for their look anyway. But, take a look above. Do they think that I will enjoy drinking this with a sexy model on the front? Am I supposed to think that if I drink this, I will look like the models? Hmm. I think a different approach needs to be taken if the company wants to attract people who will drink this stuff for weight loss purposes. I think they are going for a trendy/in the now look. But it's off the mark for people like me. I'm just too average for this type of hype. Maybe I'm not their demographic though.

Trim Water isn't available in my area, but if you would like to see if it's in your own area, just check the right hand top of the page on the home page of the Trim Water website here. Otherwise, you can order directly from their website. A case of 12 assorted flavors is $29.99.

Again, I appreciate that the Trim Water company was nice enough to send me these free samples and I feel a bit bad that I'm not that into their product. But I guess the purpose for Try it Tuesday, is to try something and then give my opinion whether I like it or not. Trim Water just isn't for me. Plus it's not even available in my area (yet). I think to promote weight loss, sticking with plain old ice water might work best for me. It's all natural and readily available. Add a touch of lemon and I'm all set.

As for beverages that are for pure enjoyment? I am all about the flavored waters!

Does anyone have a favorite flavored water that perhaps I haven't tried yet? I'm always up for trying new or improved stuff.

Next week expect a review of the new Frosted Mini-Wheats Little Bites in chocolate flavor!

Something To Think About Saturday

For Neena

Molly's First Temple Trip

I just had to share how excited I am that Molly was able to go on her first Temple trip last Saturday!

She turned 12 in January. This was the first scheduled Temple trip that the youth of our Ward went on to the Detroit Temple. She was thrilled to be able to baptize those who have gone on before us. It was a fabulous experience for her and I'm really proud that she chose to go.

She is my third daughter to go on Temple trips with the youth. Brycen is turning 11 tomorrow, so one more year and I'll have 4 kids in YM/YW! Wow. When they all go on the same day, it will be a lot of baptisms that my family performs for others. Around 40 in one day. What a blessing.

Jillian didn't take her camera, so this photo was taken with her cell phone. I'm just glad we have a little something to document the special moment.