Category: All the Other Stuff

For a while I had a blog that shared my “mom” finds. But the majority of the posts had to do with food and my business travel. Curious? Here are the posts!

The Hearts in our Home

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img_1364When I travel for work, I bring home a postcard of that city for my daughter.  Years back I decided with the help of a colleague to do postcards instead of stuffed animals or t-shirts (easy to pack, educational, will not grow out of them).  A few years back we were at a friends house in Colorado and my daughter saw a beautiful bowl of rocks on their kitchen counter.  Why do you collect rocks she asked our friend Amy?  Her answer –  these were not just rocks, but these were heart-shaped rocks that she collected from places she had visited and she would love to have my daughter take one home with her.

My daughter loved the idea and now we have our own small bowl of heart rocks that we have collected over the past few years.  It’s a nice addition to the decor in the house and we have fun looking for heart rocks on all of our trips!

My Favorite Things: Bath and Body Works

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img_1147You know the holidays are coming up, right? Whether I’m getting a gift for a friend or treating myself, this is my go-to place.

One of my favorite things at Bath and Body Works is their Pretty as a Peach sugar scrub. Why is it one of my favorites? Because it makes your skin really soft and it also smells so good. It also kind of tickles so if you are very ticklish- watch out!

Another one of my favorites is the Happy Vibes super smooth body lotion. The scent really makes you happy. When you smell it,  it actually makes you smile! After about 5 minutes your skin is so smooth.

The next product that I love is the Watermelon Lemonade shea butter hand cream. That one was for a season so it is not available anymore but there are plenty of other hand creams. For example the Hello Beautiful shea butter hand cream.

Another product they have that I like is the Magic in the Air ultra shea body cream. The smell Magic in the Air was my first scent. It makes your skin so soft,  SO SOFT!!!!!!! It also is one of the best products there.

The last one I will share is the Japanese Cherry Blossom fragrance mist. It smells exactly like your actually in a forest of cherry blossom trees! It is actually pink and there is a big glitter bottle. I use this as a perfume but you can use it to make your room smell great!

Almost all these smells come in a lotion, body wash or scrub and some have a candle- ask my mom about those.  So after hearing about all those products, do you think you should treat yourself to a nice lotion or candle? I think you should!

P.S.they just got a new scent that is called In the Stars. (it smells awesome)

P.P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for there emails so you can get lots of discounts!

Recipe: Slow Cooker Lasagna

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I was wrong.  And I admit it.  For years I ignored all the recipes I found for slow cooking a lasagna.  You had to boil the noodles for it to be good, right?  You had to have straight layers so each bite had the perfectly cooked noodle and the right mix of cheese and sauce, right?  There was no way the slow cooker would make a good lasagna.  But I was wrong.

Who cares about the perfect looking layers?  This is not a Top Chef contest.  I need dinner on the table after a long day at work and possibly some leftovers for those nights when kid activities run late.  This was so easy that my daughter could have made this dinner.

img_0142Slow Cooker Lasagna

Ingredients:

  • Lasagna Noodles, uncooked
  • Your favorite sauce homemade or jarred (about 1.5 – 2 jars)
  • Cooked Veggies or cooked ground meat(beef, sausage, turkey) or both to layer or mix with sauce
  • Ricotta cheese, part skim mixed with garlic powder, oregano, basil and other dried spices of your choice
  • Shredded mozzarella (1-2 bags)

How to Make it:

  • Cover the bottom of the slow cooker with sauce.
  • Create your first layer with lasagna noodles and break apart pieces to cover the open spots.
  • Cover the uncooked noodles with the ricotta mixture, veggies(optional) and then a layer of mozzarella
  • Cover the entire cheese layer with sauce.
  • Repeat noodles, cheese, veggies and sauce.
  • Add one last layer of noodles, then cover entirely with sauce and then a layer of shredded mozzarella.
  • Cook for 2.5-3 hours on HIGH or 4-5 hours on LOW, then let it sit for 30-60 minutes to set on warm setting.
  • Serve with a salad and garlic bread.

The Easiest Hour is Lunch!

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The moms say it takes a village and they are right.  School was about to start and a group of us were talking about the challenge facing us all – school lunch.  I wanted my daughter to make her lunch the night before but all I heard was “Mom, what should I make, Mom, we don’t have any xxx(fill in the blank here), Mom, I’ll do it in the morning before school(we all know that won’t happen!).  So my friend Anne started a facebook group where all the moms could post their suggestions – healthy ideas, snack ideas, breakfast, lunch, easy dinners.  And then I read a post that smacked me in the face.  Make a menu.  Like they do at the public schools.  That was TOO EASY.

OK, so who hates it when you have to pack your lunch every night?  And you don’t know what to pack.  Well, me and my mom made a menu of all the things I like and we posted it on the fridge.  It tells me what to pack like a chicken caesar salad with chips and fruit and it’s so easy that you should go to your mom and ask her to make you one too.

 

We are now in week 4.  This super easy plan is a complete GAME CHANGER.  Create a word document, add pictures, dates to cross off and DONE.  If I am traveling for work, life becomes even easier for my husband since there are no questions.

Nicole, you have changed the way we function so THANK YOU!  The bonus – Nicole shared a photo of her pantry in our Facebook group.  Super organized with clear stackable containers.  So, of course, I had to do a quick Amazon search and buy them too.  Now everyone can grab a KIND bar, a bag of dried apricots or Pirate’s Booty and get lunch ready super fast!