St. Patrick's Day Information and more!

Until today I knew absolutely nothing about St. Patrick's Day other than the fact that people got drunk and wore green. Here is the scoop on St. Patrick's Day and what makes it what it is today.

Saint Patrick's Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on March 17. It is named after Saint Patrick , the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of  Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early seventeenth century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Comunnion, the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, as well as celebrates the heritage of the culture and of the Irish in general. Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks. Christians also attend church services and the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol are lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption.

If you want to know more go here http://www.st-patricks-day.com/ they have everything from Irish music to the details of St. Patrick and so much more. 

They even have Irish recipes like this one:

Irish Stew Recipe
2-3 potatoes for every person. (pealed and ready to cook)
500g Beef Mince/ Stewing beef (diced)
500g carrots sliced.
1 small onion finely chopped.
Small cup full of pearl barley
salt. (preferably low-salt or something equivalent as stew needs lots of
salt)
3 x beef oxo cubes (beef stock cubes)
Add the mince/stewing beef and pearl barley to big pot of water and bring to
boil and simmer. When beef is cooked add carrots and onion. Make beef stock
in jug and add to pot too. Add as much salt as seems necessary or leave this
out until serving and people can add what they feel individually necessary.
About an hour before serving time add potatoes to the pot to cook.
Serve when potatoes are cooked. 

 

This stew would go great with sprite with green food coloring in it!

Shamrock Bouquet!

I'm not the biggest fan of St. Patricks Day. But since it's the only special event we have in March besides my daughters birthday which is the day after, I suppose it would be nice to celebrate it and do some special stuff. I really enjoy holidays  so every single one counts in some way whether it's big or small.

So my first St. Patricks Day craft was this adorable shamrock bouquet. All I did was print some cute shamrocks using my printer and google to find the perfect picture of Shamrocks. Then I cut them out and stuck them on straws. To get the bouquet affect of different lengths I used different amounts of straws connected together. I really like how it turned out. Stay tuned over the next couple weeks because I will be doing different creative St. Patricks Day crafts as well as simple party preparations for my daughters 4th birthday!

Hugo The Happy Starfish Review

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

The stories of Hugo the happy starfish are interesting. I would suggest that the age range for the books be 5 and older because the stories are pretty complex for little ones. The illustrations are cute and colorful and my kids asked a lot of questions about them. I liked the idea of having a moral to the story, which every Hugo book has but yet another reason to keep the age range a little higher. 

Meet HUGO – a little starfish with a BIG HEART. His passion is to make others happy but he still has many things to learn.

Fortunately he has more than just a big heart, he also has a CURIOUS MIND.

Through his adventures, Hugo learns many valuable lessons of character, life skills, and ecological alertness — all against the colorful backdrop of a magical underwater world and mystical islands.

Join Hugo on his journey as he discovers that having the right attitude is the best way to be — and the only way to be truly happy.

To visit Hugo at his website and learn more about him go to http://www.mystarfish.org/home where you can buy the books or learn about free teacher friday. An amazingly generous program by author Suzy Liebermann.

About the Author

A native of Germany and former resident of the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the Islands of the Bahamas and Switzerland, Suzy Liebermann—now living in the USA—has travelled the world in pursuit of language, art, and culture. Learn more here.

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.

In other news look at my front yard! It has been crazy weather here for the past couple months. Snow, no snow, plus 10 degrees then minus 17. Weird!  I can't wait for spring! How about you?

The Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser VoxBox!

This is one Garnier product that delivers exactly what it says. My split ends are absolutely erased after using the Damage Eraser hair care routine. My hair feels like silk, is very shiny, and smells good enough to eat!

First there is the shampoo and conditioner which reconstructs and preserves strength for strong rejuvenated looking hair.

And the split end serum that helps prevent split ends with every drop as well as reconstructing and preserving hairs strength.

And that but not least the strength reconstructing butter that is designed to intensely reconstruct hair's strength  for strong, shiny looking hair that is beautifully rejuvenated. Never worry again about all the damage you do with hair straightening, blow drying, and curling. This product can help revers all the daily damage your hair takes. Erase the damage and start fresh with Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser! 

"I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes."

Babyville Boutique Review and Giveaway!

This is my favourite time of year colour wise. I love all the pinks, blues, greens and yellows of spring and I also love how everything is beginning to bloom and chirp! Its an amazing time of year and the best way to show off the colours of spring when you have a little girl is cute spring time headbands. I know its still a little wintery in some parts of the globe but here it is all sunshine and slush. Which is a sure sign of springtime! This is my favourite selection of Babyville Boutique products so far out of all the reviews I have done. I only have one little girl so I take the time to pretty her up any chance I get, it usually winds up being completely ruined and covered in a fine coat of mud by the end of the day but hey, it looked good at first!

Here are the sweet products I get to test out:

And 3 sets of monthly Iron Ons, one of my friends is due in March so as a baby gift for her I am going to get her 12 onesies and iron on each month for her! She is going to love them!

 Little Birds Ribbon Collection

 Pink and White Fold Over Elastic

Adorable Size Tags 

Little Bird Appliques

An amazing package to review altogether. Now here is what I have done with my awesome items so far. I made these:

Aren't they precious? They are sooooo cute I have gotten so many compliments on them! Stay tuned because I am going to be a guest blogger on Babyville Boutique's Blog and show you how to make these adorable headbands. They are so simple anyone can make them.

In the meantime if you want to get in on the action and get your self some of these sweet products you can check out their website here: http://www.babyvilleboutique.com/ or enter to win some on the rafflecopter form below! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Amazing Customer Service

When you shop at the same grocery store for years, people notice you. You make the odd acquaintance and get a few smiles every now and then. So when something happens like an extreme power outage and you can't pay for your groceries with your debit card, this is where those acquaintances become friends and show you the true meaning of customer service! 

I was shopping at Save On Foods yesterday and they had sudden power outage, the lights were off and the tills were running on backup for 15 more mins. I had my 1 year old, 3 year old and 5 year old and about 20 dollars in groceries at the till. I was checking out when I noticed I couldn't use my bank card. So I start putting in whatever cash I had on me which luckily was around 15 dollars. I had 5 dollars left to pay and one of the girls who has her grand daughter in my class grabs two other girls and they lend me the 5.00 out of their smocks. Now that is customer service! Sure Save On may not be the cheapest grocery store in town but the customer service makes it totally worth it! 

I have been shopping at Save On for over 10 years, since I was just a teenager. Don't underestimate the power of a great attitude, cute kids, and loyalty. Thank you Christine, Sandra, and Lita from Save On Foods in Westbank you saved my butt yesterday!

Valentines Crafts and Family Day!

For my daughters preschool class we made these really cute Bubble Guppies sucker valentines, they have cute little jokes on them like:

What time did Gil go to the dentist?

Tooth Hurty

They are really cute.You can find the printable template here on Nick Jr.

My son of course went with the store bought valentines and we just taped suckers to them. You can get a bag of 30 heart shaped suckers for 1.49 at Shoppers Drug Mart :)

Then for the teachers we made 100% peanut free Wowbutter oatmeal cookies with a cute little card that says:

Thanks for making me one smart cookie!

They are really going to like them and they are 100% safe to have at school. Here is where you can print out the card. Sweet Metel Moments.

And here is the Wowbutter Oatmeal cookie recipe I have created for this special occasion!

Wowbutter Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup margarine
1 cup Wowbutter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups quick cook rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Scoop 1 inch balls and put them on baking sheets. These are drop cookies so there is no need to squash them down. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

 I love peanut butter cookies but you can never send them to school due to all the crazy allergies kids have these days. So this recipe is something I hope everyone can enjoy! If you haven't tried Wowbutter yet you can find it in most local grocery stores and it can also be ordered off Amazon.

We are celebrating a new Holiday here in B.C. called Family Day so we are going to lounge around and enjoy each others company and do some sweet valentines day crafts to decorate the house. I found a ton of ideas on Pinterest by typing in Valentines Day! What are you doing today?

You may also want to read this article about What To Look For When Adopting a Cat! 

Follow our famous kitty “Beans” adventures on Instagram! 

Confessions of a Zombie Slayer: A Daisy Daniels Novel (Part 1) Review

 

I love zombie movies and zombie books, my 3 favorite zombie movies are 28 Days Later, Dawn Of The Dead, and Resident Evil. This book takes me right back to my couch watching a movie full of suspense and thrills. When I began reading this book I instantly became addicted to it. I caught myself up last night around 1 A.M. thinking to myself, just one more page and then again, just one more page. This morning I finished it and can't wait for the next novel! Here is some information on the awesome book:

Confessions of a Zombie Slayer: A Daisy Daniels Novel (Part 1)  by A.M. Zuniga

Daisy Daniels is no stranger to terror. Her mother’s brutal murder and her job as a horror movie actress have taught her to be prepared for anything. But there’s no preparing for the horrific zombie outbreak that’s wiped out cities and towns overnight and stolen her family and friends.

She and several other survivors flee to government Area 51, hoping to find safety. Along the way, she flirts with romance when she is torn between two handsome strangers.

Area 51 doesn't turn out to be the haven Daisy expected. More danger lurks, along with the answer to a haunting mystery. Will she survive the truth and find love along the way? Or will the living dead destroy her, along with the rest of civilization?

Sounds pretty amazing right? The way she describes the zombies makes you feel like your really there getting blood dripped on you, you  feel like your around the corner listening to the gurgling noise of the crazed zombies coming after you. Great storyline and great characters!  

You can buy a copy of this awesome book from Amazon and read it right on your computer using Kindle Cloud Reader if you don't have a tablet or e reader device. It is only $0.99 right now so buy it while it's cheap because this book is going to get popular fast and the price will rise! 

Check it out here:

Influenster Mystery VoxBox!

I have been chosen to review a new #MysteryBrand product line made by L'Oreal by being a part of Influenster. In my wonderful mystery VoxBox I received 3 small samples of the mystery product line. Shampoo, conditioner and split end serum! I was only given a small amount of information about the product because it is being kept top secret until the product is launched. Here is the information I was given:

The mystery product has been formulated to reconstruct hair's strength by 90% from root to tip, it repairs and prevents damage. It contains damage fighting Phyto-Keratin Complex and Cupuacu Butter. 

And here is what I can tell you, it smells absolutely amazing! And my hair feels amazing after using the products, it is silky, smooth, and super soft with a gorgeous shine! So what is the mystery product line? I'm guessing an intensive repair and reconstruct product line... What do you think of the #MysteryBrand?

Stay tuned because the product launch is in the next couple weeks and I will be receiving them to review and introduce to my fabulous readers :)

"I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes."

Sabi Carafe Review!

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

 

I received a neat little item to review from a company called Sabi. They specialize in products to improve day to day life. That being said here is a very creative product. At first I thought, what in the world am I going to use this for? But then I had remembered how often I forget to take a few important pills everyday. One being my birth control pill, which I am absolutely terrible at remembering and the other is my multivitamin. This convenient little carafe makes it so I don't forget and as I am remembering to take it I already have my drink ready to go.

• Weight: 88 g/3.1 oz
• Dimensions:  H: 102 mm x Diameter: 61 mm/H: 4 in x Diameter: 2.4 in
• Compartment (divided in 2):  Depth: 30 mm x Diameter: 56 mm/Depth: 1.2 in x Diameter: 2.2 in
• Three-piece cup, pill box and easy press-on/pull off lid
• Two-compartment pill box holds pills of all sizes and shapes
• Cup holds 124 ml/4 oz of water
• Non-spill cap locks cup closed
• Perfect for bedside or desktop
• BPA-free
• Easily hand washable

Sabi has a wide range of products from pill containers to walking canes and much more. You can visit their site here to find out more:  http://sabi.com/

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.