Archive | 4:36 pm

daybook: november 30th

30 Nov

Today…

Outside my window: it’s pretty nice out. Sunny and in the 40′s. It might snow tonight.

I am hearing: MM not even pretending to be napping and BB playing on her little tummy time mat.

I am thinking: about a million things right now, struggling valiantly to keep it all straight.

I am hoping: that dinner tonight comes out okay, I’m not entirely confident in the recipe but I am hoping it comes out good.

I am reading: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – I’m about halfway through the book now and pretty much in love with it. It’s very tempting to go crawl into bed with it and ignore the rest of the day.

I am creating: our Christmas Card finally. I took a couple of creatively festive pictures and finally found a layout on Walmart’s photo website that I like and suddenly it all come together. I’m just waiting on the okay from Dan then I’ll be ordering…

I am wearing: plaid pajamas and a dark purple maroonish tee shirt

In the kitchen:

Plans for the week: dinner at Dan’s co-workers tomorrow, a playdate on Wednesday, trying to recover from the weekend laundry and cleaning wise and catching up on some blogging reviews.

A few of my favorite things: a really great weekend with some spur of the moment fun: a limoncello dessert at the Cheesecake Factory, a surprise Christmas present for MM, homemade samosas last night, japanese pears, girl scout cookies, my wonderful spontaneous husband, having the Christmas decorations out (finally, I’ve been very eager to decorate for the holidays this year)…

A picture thought:

sneak preview of the christmas card

Review: Glade Scented Oil Candles

30 Nov

I’m not generally a “candle person.” I have been given a lot of candles as gifts over the years but I rarely use them. Mostly because I’m a teensy bit afraid of fires. But I recently had the opportunity to review the Glade Scented Oil Candles and for some reason I said yes. I’m glad I did.

We used our first scented oil candle on the night of my husband’s birthday. We used the limited-edition Bayberry Spice scented oil candle that Glade sent me. It comes in a round tin and you’ll find that the candle attached to the tin firmly because of a built in magnetic center bump on the tin (and the metal bottom of the candle). I loved that the candle held firm and placed in the wide tin, it wasn’t going anywhere. Once you light the candle it eventually melts into an oil liquid and then evaporates. When the oil is gone, the flame goes out on its own. It will burn for about two to three hours.

I enjoyed the Bayberry Spice’s scent a lot. My husband and I both noticed that we could “tune the scent out” as it wasn’t over powering like some scents can be. But the second we thought about it, we could clearly smell the candle and found the fragrance light and sweet.

That weekend I picked up a package of refills in the vanilla scent, one of my favorite scents for most candles, soaps and fragrances. We used it during our Thanksgiving dinner and the vanilla smelled just as good as the Bayberry although I found it even more mild than the Bayberry. The refills sell for about $3.49 for a pack of four refills. You can also buy decorative glass jars for the scented oil candles for $3.49.

My only complaint with these candles is that they appear to be a single use only candle and once you light it, you really have to just let it finish burning – so don’t plan to leave the house an hour after lighting it! You’ll want to make sure you’ve got a good three hours to enjoy the scent before you need to leave. But all in all, the whole process of using the candles is so easy that even me, a typically anti-candle person, enjoyed using them. I thought the magnetic base was genius and with two small children in the home a safety feature I immediately appreciated. And I’m looking forward to my next scented oil candle experience immensely. Maybe I’ll become a candle person after all.

I highly recommend the Glade Scented Oil Candles for your next holiday party or even your next “Must block the scent of that diaper pail!” emergency.

Want to win a Glade Scented Oil Candle of your own? I’m giving one away at my review blog – you have until Friday to enter to win!

This post was written as part of a program for Family Review Network and SC Johnson, who provided the product for review and giveaway. I was not compensated in any way except for the complimentary product.

Monthly Menu Plan: December

30 Nov

I’m back with another month of menu planning!

For those who’ve never planned a month long menu or haven’t read my little posts on them before, here’s the deal: Rather than planning my family dinners night by night, or week by week, I’ve taken the habit of planning out one menu for an entire month. This makes my grocery shopping much easier since I’ve already decided what dinners I’ll be making, I only have to pick up the ingredients missing for that week and the very regular cast of breakfast and lunch foods.

And the looming nightly dinners are now much less intimidating. No longer having to stand in front of the refrigerator scratching my head, trying desperately to figure out something nutritious and delicious to make for dinner? Love that. And by doing this monthly rather than weekly, it leaves more time for life in the days in between. It isn’t rocket science, and thanks goes to Simple Mom who inspired me with this idea.

Here’s my monthly menu plan for the month of December:

Week One

Week Two

Week Three:

  • Saturday December 12: Vegetarian Meatloaf
  • Sunday: Breakfast for Dinner: Pancakes with and Fresh Fruit and Boca Breakfast Sausage
  • Monday: Frozen Pizza
  • Tuesday: Spaghetti with Diced Tomatoes and Boca Crumbles
  • Wednesday: Macaroni and Cheese with broccoli
  • Thursday: Grilled Cheese and Soup
  • Friday: Spaghetti with Italian Sausage and Sauce

Week Four:

Week Five: