Cute As a Fox

Quick Serve Upside Down Cakes

2013-05-14T02:00:00.001-07:00

This post brought to you by Private Selection. All opinions are 100% mine.

May 12 was National Nutty Fudge Day and May 15 is Chocolate Chip Day. It is no wonder that I have desserts on the brain. I am really excited that I have the opportunity to tell you about the new Upside Down Cakes from Private Selection.

The Private Selection brand is a premium private label brand carried exclusively at the Kroger Family of Stores and affiliated stores including: Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Fry’s, Gerbes, Pay Less, QFC, JayC, King Soopers, Owen’s, Ralphs, Smith’s and Fred Meyer.

I have tried many different Private Selection products in the past, and I concur that they are premium quality without the premium price. I have not yet tried the Upside Down Cakes, but I plan on doing so. They have three different flavors, so there is cake for any taste. They taste like homemade, because they use only the best ingredients.

I do a fair bit of dinner entertaining in the summer months, and I really hate turning on the oven. That means I usually skip dessert, or we go with a store bought or semi-homemade option. The Private Selection cakes can be heated in the microwave which is very appealing to me.

The Private Selection Upside Down Cakes are easy to prepare. You only need to warm, flip, and serve. The flavor choices include:

German Chocolate Fudge – with the classically irresistible combination of gooey caramel, pecans and coconut
Double Chocolate Molten – prepared with real butter, eggs, milk, and the finest semi-sweet chocolate
Amber Honey Apple Spice – topped with apple slices drenched in a sweet amber honey glaze.

I think I really want to try the Amber Honey Apple Spice followed by the German Chocolate Fudge. Yum! I have some good news. Private Selection is trying to Spread the Love about their Upside Down Cakes by offering a coupon. You can visit the Private Selection Upside Down Cakes coupon to receive a coupon for $1 off. If you want an even better coupon, you can share the Private Selection Upside Down Cakes on Facebook and receive a $2 off coupon. You can also visit Private Selection Upside Down Cakes on Pinterest. I highly recommend checking out the Decadent Desserts board. There are some very delicious pins on there.

You can use the store locator to find the location nearest you that carries the Private Selection Upside Down Cakes.

What are your quick fix dessert options? I would love to get some inspiration! Please leave me a comment with your best ideas.

Disclaimer: Coupon ends 6/2/13. Official Rules. In order to load these coupons to your card, you will need to sign into your Kroger account or set up a Kroger account and enter your card number. Limit one use per digital coupon. Digital offers are not eligible on Manager's Specials, cannot be combined with manufacturer paper coupons on the purchase of a single item, and do not double. Not all items are available in all stores. A limit of 150 coupons can be loaded per household at one time.

Caramel German Chocolate Bars

2013-05-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

Did you know that May 15th is National Chocolate Chip day? The fact there are so many random food holidays can get a little silly, but it is fun to have a reason to cook with a specific ingredient. I like the inspiration. In honor of the holiday, our Food Blogger Challenge group picked Chocolate as our ingredient for this week.
Today's recipe is heavenly. It is the dessert I request every year for my birthday. I am a real sucker for the combination of caramel, chocolate, and nuts.

Caramel German Chocolate Bars

Ingredients:

1 German Chocolate Cake Mix
1 can evaporated milk
3/4 cup melted butter
1 14 oz package of caramels
1 cup chopped walnuts
12 oz package of chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 9x13" baking dish and set aside. Unwrap the caramels if necessary.
Combine the cake mix 1/3 cup evaporated milk, chopped walnuts, and the 3/4 cup melted butter. Hand stir until the dough holds together.
Add half of the dough mixture to the greased and floured pan and bake for 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk over medium heat. Stir continually, so you don't burn the caramel. Note: You can also melt the caramel and evaporated milk in the microwave. Heat for 30 second intervals stirring in between, until completely melted.
After the mix has come out of the oven, pour the caramel over the cooked dough. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the caramel and spoon on the remaining dough.

Here is what the bars look like before they go back into the oven for final cooking.
Bake for 18 minutes at 350° F. Cool completely and store in refrigerator.
To serve: The bars slice best when they are chilled. Slice when cold and let sit a few minutes before serving.

These are so gooey and delicious that it is unbelievable. I also love how it looks. I like that you can see these veins of caramel and chocolate chips running through the dessert. Yum! Is your mouth watering yet?

Note: I varied a little from the written directions. My daughter has nut allergies, so I sprinkled the walnuts on half of the caramel, instead of mixing it into the batter. It is delicious either way!

If you make it, I would love to hear about it! Let me know how you like it in the comments. Be sure and check out the other delicious chocolate recipes that are being shared this week in the linky below.

Give Mom your undivided attention #SocialBlackout

2013-05-08T19:13:00.001-07:00

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for MetLife. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating. All ideas and opinions are my own.

What does your family have planned for Mother's Day weekend? Our schedule is jam packed with pretty typical things. Our family will be juggling a soccer game, yard sale, two family birthday parties, work, church, and hopefully some time to relax and spend with our Mothers. I think I'm going to need a second weekend to recuperate from my Mother's Day weekend.

Even though things will be busy, I'm looking forward to spending time with both my Mother and my Mother-in-law. We are extremely fortunate to live close to family and we get to spend time with them often. I do find sometimes, that I take it for granted how often we get to see them. I catch myself sometimes browing Pinterest, checking my Instagram, or updating Facebook when I should really be fully engaged with that's happening with the family. I've been in conversation before where the other person is engrossed in their smart phone and not actively listening. It is no fun. I really need to work on that!

MetLife came up with a pretty brilliant concept called the #SocialBlackout movement. The idea is stay off social media on Mother's Day so you can give Mom the time and attention she deserves! MetLife created a Facebook event that you can join here: http://on.fb.me/ZHDxFu . The Facebook event has a really funny tagline. It says, "The only RSVP you don't have to show up for."

I love the idea of disconnecting for the day to focus on family. Just think, if we can spread awareness of this movement, you won't even be missing anything on your social media sites that day.
I know that not everyone will be able to spend the day with their Mother, but I encourage you to participate anyway. You can spend some time honoring your mother in some way, or spend the day focusing on yourself. It's amazing how much calmer and clear headed I feel when I don't have dings and beeps from my devices going off all the time.

So I have I convinced you yet? Are you going to join me in the #SocialBlackout this Mother's Day? You can even change your profile pictures to that cute Snoopy picture to help get the word out. MetLife has a Facebook page set-up so you can get more information: https://www.facebook.com/metlife.

I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, no matter how you spend it!

Oven Roasted Parmesan Asparagus

2013-05-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's another week, and another ingredient in the Blogger ingredient challenge. After the Goody Brownie Bars last week, it's a good thing that this weeks ingredient is asparagus.

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables. I don't remember when I first tried it, but I remember liking it a lot growing up. I will tell you this, please don't buy canned asparagus. Yuck! Fresh is the way to go.

Today I am sharing one of my favorite ways to eat asparagus. It is oven roasted asparagus with Parmesan cheese.

Oven Roasted Parmesan Asparagus

Ingredients:

1 lb asparagus
Olive Oil
Pepper
shaved or grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450° F.
Prepare your asparagus by washing and snapping the rough ends off. The asparagus will naturally snap at the right spot. These ensures you will have nice tender asparagus.
Lightly drizzle olive oil over the asparagus and toss to coat.
Sprinkle with pepper and Parmesan cheese.
Heat in the oven 12-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the asparagus is tender, but still crisp.
Serve immediately.

I served this with grilled chicken and some pretzel dinner rolls. The whole dinner was so tasty. I hope you check out what some of the other bloggers made with asparagus this week! Oh and May is National Asparagus month, so why not head out to the grocery store and pick up some asparagus to celebrate?

Mother's Day Keepsake Cards

2013-05-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

I am back to share my final result from the Michael's Make Every Moment Count Blogger Challenge. It was so much fun working with paper and scrapbook elements again.

I decided to create Mother's Day cards that double as little photo keepsakes. Both my Mother and Mother-in-law display photos and cards and I thought this would be perfect for their displays. Just to remind you, here are the supplies I picked up at Michael's to work with.

I used the sheet of acetate to cover the front of the cards. I used the Violet Leaf Mat Stack to frame the photos as well as for the frame design on the front of the card.

I was most excited to use the Martha Stewart 3-in-1 punches. I used one of the punches to create a frame for one of the K&Company flower elements.

Then I used the scallop circle to add to the K&Company flower brads. I actually took off a layer of the flower and replaced it with the acetate paper. I love how it turned out, and how it tied the front of the card to the inside.

I made two different cards, and they were slightly different. Here's the inside of the second card. I am a minimalist when it comes to scrapbooking. I like the photos to speak for themselves with just a little embellishment here and there.

Oh and here is the front of the other card. So the turquoise front, went with the turquoise inside and the green went with the green. I ended up printing Happy Mother's Day on card stock and mounting the words and the frame on some chipboard. It gives the front of the card some nice dimension.

Here are both of the cards one more time.

I am really excited to give these to my Mom and Mother-in-law this weekend. There is still time for you to make a homemade keepsake card too. I know they will love it, if you do.

Check out the Michael's Lookbook for inspiration on how to make every moment count this month.

Disclaimer: I was provided a Michael's gift card to facilitate my scrapbook design. Any opinions are my own.

Great Books for Teaching the ABCs

2013-05-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

My daughter is in preschool and we have noticed that she is having some trouble with a few of her letters. We have several alphabet books in our collection, but I thought it would be nice to branch out. Finding some variety has helped so much. We practice several times a day, and having different books to look at have kept the task from getting boring.

After reading so many different books, I thought I would share some of our favorites. Each link will take you to Amazon(referral links) so you can read more about the book, and most of them will let you see a few pages too.

Aster Aardvark's Alphabet Adventure by Steven Kellogg: This book is a real tongue twister. It has tons of alliteration and uses a much larger vocabulary than your average ABC book. Here's an example: "Desperate for dinner after a day of digging up dinosaurs in the desert, Dr. Delphius Dog and a dozen dedicated disciples dined on delicious delicacies delivered by a duo of distinguished ducks dangling from a dirigible. "

Curious George Learns the Alphabet by H.A. Rey: This book was a no brainer to include in the round-up. I mean, who doesn't love Curious George? Each letter of the alphabet is drawn into the picture. You can see in the cover photo that the lion is made up of an L. All the letters are illustrated in the same fashion. In addition to teaching the alphabet, there is a real story line with George getting into some of his usual antics.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Fishes by Brian P. Cleary: This one is probably my favorite based on the illustrations. They are bright, colorful, and fun. I just really love the style. My daughter really liked it because each page has the letter included throughout the illustrations. So the J page and at least one J hidden in the illustration. My daughter loved finding all the letters throughout the book.

Little Bitty Mousie by Jim Aylesworth: This story is about a little mouse that explores a kitchen. Along the way she finds something from every letter of the alphabet. I liked how this book had a story intertwined with the alphabet practice. The end is cute and funny.

Into the A, B, Sea: An Ocean Alphabet Book : This is another book that I just loved the illustrations. This book uses alliteration to tell about different sea creatures using every letter of the alphabet. My 7 year old son really enjoyed this book because at the end of the book it included more in-depth information about each of the sea creatures in the book.

Richard Scarry's Find Your ABC's: We love Busytown Mysteries at our house, and this book utilizes the same illustrations. The familiarity really helped draw my daughter in. In this book, two detectives dress in disguise to find all the letters of the alphabet. The end of the book reveals that they needed the letters to make alphabet soup.

Puddle's ABC by Holly Hobbie: This book is a part of the Toot and Puddle picture book series. The story is about Puddle the pig teaching Otto the turtle to write his name. Otto doesn't know what letters are so Puddle decides to teach him. The meat of the book is illustrations of the letters and some words that start with those letters. The letter illustrations reminded me of flashcards. In the end Otto learns to write his name. I like how the story is so well incorporated into teaching the letters.

Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book: You can't go wrong with Dr. Seuss. We have had this book and loved it since my oldest was a baby. This is another book littered with alliteration. My kids love the silly made up words and creatures in this book.

What are your favorite ABC books? Do you love any that I didn't include in this list? Please leave me a comment, I would love to check them out!

Make Every Moment Count Blogger Challenge

2013-05-06T09:40:00.001-07:00

First, if you are my Mother or Mother-in-law, I must ask you to look away. Seriously, there is nothing to see here. Move along.

Now that's out of the way, I can tell you about the Mother's Day cards I am making this year. May is National Scrapbook month I was asked to participate in the Michael's Make Every Moment Count blogger challenge. I started out scrapbooking when I was about 16, but the last few years I have not done anything. I am so excited to get back at it.

I was given a Michael's giftcard to go shopping and get some supplies. I am super excited about the Martha Stewart punches, it is three punches in one.

I decided that I am going to take a recent photo shoot I did with the kids and turn them into Mother's Day cards/keepsakes for the Grandmothers. I won't be sharing my final design until Wednesday, but I am excited to get working on it. It will be more keepsake than card, but I know they will both love it.

Are you doing anything handmade for Mother's Day? I would love to hear about it in the comments! I'll be back on Wednesday to reveal my design. See you then!
Oh and if you are looking for ideas to help make every moment count, you can check out the Michael's Lookbook for inspiration.

Disclaimer: I was provided a Michael's gift card to facilitate my scrapbook design. Any opinions are my own.

Outdoor Tiered Planters

2013-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy May Day! As a Sears Blogger, I spend a lot of time on the Sears website. I like go there for inspiration and add things to my wish list. In fact, browsing the Sears website helped me solve a little problem I have been having. Every time I go into my backyard, I get a little sad because it is missing something. Specifically it is missing a garden. I think I've come to the conclusion that I haven't put in a garden yet because of fear. I've been looking at building a planter of some sort. I think I'm just scared that I'll go to a lot of effort and expense and I will kill the plants or something.
To build up my confidence, I decided that I am going to start small with some tiered planters. I would love to make this stacked herb garden that Emily made over at Bits & Bites.

I like that it is cute and practical. Sears has everything I need to build one of these stackable planters. In fact, they even sell tiered planters, if you want to skip the DIY and just get planting.
This stackable planter is just $68.99 on the Sears website.

I am adding it to my wish list over on Sears.com for sure. What what you buy at Sears? Right now, you can enter the Sears LocalAd Sweeps on ShopYourWay and win 100,000 points (that’s equal to $100).

The contest is quite simple. To get start you just have to head over to Sweeps ShopYourWay. Points. Prizes. Play! This link will take you right where you need to go: http://bit.ly/ZGVFSF.

Once you are there, ‘follow’ the @Sears LocalAd brand page on ShopYourWay, then pick 5 must-haves from your local Sears store and add them to your ‘Wish List’ on ShopYourWay. Sears.com sells millions of items, so finding five for your wish list should be a breeze.
You can earn two additional entries by sharing the Sweeps with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

What are you waiting for? Go check out the #Sweeps now. http://bit.ly/ZGVFSF

This is a sponsored post. I am a Sears blogger, though all opinions are my own.

Brownie Goody Bars

2013-04-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

This week the Food Blogger challenge ingredient is Peanut butter. It is pretty hard to go wrong with peanut butter, and let me tell you that these Brownie Goody Bars are oh so right! I love how quickly these came together. There was cooking and cooling time, but I spent very little time prepping.

Brownie Goody Bars

Ingredients:

1 package fudge brownie mix
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tub vanilla frosting
3 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom of a 13x9" pan.
Combine brownie mix, water, oil, and eggs in a medium bowl until well blended. Spread in pan.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from the side of the pan comes out clean or almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
Frost the brownies with the frosting and refrigerate while you are preparing the cereal mixture.
Measure cereal into large bowl and set aside. Melt the peanut butter and chocolate chips in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.
When the mixture is melted and completely combined, spread over frosted brownies. Cool completely before cutting.

These brownies are delicious and oh so rich. I had a little one and I was full.

One note on measuring peanut butter. Anytime I cook with peanut butter, I get excited all over again about my measuring cup. It is adjustable and then the bottom slides up and pushes the ingredient out. It is perfect for sticky stuff like peanut butter, honey, molasses, etc. This isn't a review or sponsored post, I just seriously love the thing. I have the KitchenArt Pro Adjust a cup, but there are other brands too.

I mentioned that this is a recipe for the food bloggers challenge, so here is the link-up of the other bloggers that are participating. The linky is up all week, so make sure you come back and see what delicious recipes get added throughout the week!

Baseball themed wedding

2013-04-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to attend the most fun wedding reception I have ever been to. The couple share a love of baseball and so the wedding reception was baseball themed and included a softball game at the end of the reception. The reception was laid back, relaxed, and really just so much fun.

I took a few photos and thought it would be fun to share. Even if a baseball themed wedding isn't for you, there are definitely ideas that would be great for a sports or baseball birthday party.

The one thing I didn't get a photo of is the bridal party. The bride and groom were dressed up, but everyone else was wearing t-shirts that said either Team Ortiz(Bride) or Team Huber(Groom). The wedding invitations made it clear that the bride and groom would each be leading a team in a softball game at the end of the wedding reception. When we arrived, the bridal party was out taking photos on the pitchers mound at the baseball field. I can't wait to see their photos.
This banner greeted guests as they arrived. I love the paper lanterns. You can find the baseball paper lanterns at Party City.

Below the banner was a cute bench for presents. I love the old lantern they had for cards.

Each table had a candy centerpiece with Baseball gumballs, cherry candies, monogram lollipops, and baseball lollipops. The baseball gumballs are hard to see, but they are really cute.

Some baseball chocolates would be really cute too. They wouldn't be so great outdoors, in Arizona, but indoors would work great.

The guestbook might have been one of my favorite details. They had engraved baseball bats with their name and wedding date. The table had tons of sharpies for people to sign the bats. I love guestbooks that you can display in your home and always look at.

The baseball theme continued with the desserts and wedding cake. The baseball cake pops were a big hit, especially with the kids.

What a fun wedding cake. I love the personalized baseball and the stitching that goes all the way around the cake. That heart in the lower right is especially cute.

What is the most unique themed wedding you have ever been to? This was my first that had a really fun, creative theme, and I loved it! Congrats to the bride and groom!

Kmart LocalAd Sweepstakes

2013-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

What would you buy with a $100 Kmart Gift Card? Let me tell you what I would buy with the money. We are in the middle of my son's soccer season and it is getting hot outside. It was 98 degrees on Saturday. I have some serious envy issues when other parents whip out there pop-up shade canopies. I would buy this EZ-Up canopy in a heartbeat, if I had $100 to spend at Kmart. It is currently on sale for $105.29.

I'm not just trying to torture you with what you could buy with $100. I am going to tell you that you could win 100,000 points (that’s equal to $100) when you enter the Kmart LocalAd Sweeps on ShopYourWay SWEEPS Points. Prizes. Play!

It is quite easy to enter. You simply have to ‘follow’ the Kmart LocalAd brand page on ShopYourWay, then pick 5 must-haves from your local Kmart store and add them to your ‘Wish List’ on ShopYourWay.
For example: search patio furniture on ShopYourWay, hover over the ones you like with your mouse and click ‘want.’ The products will automatically be added to your Wish List. When you head over to ShopYourWay, the SWEEPS app will walk you through the whole process. In 5 minutes or less you’ll be entered to win $100 from @Kmart.

If you want two additional entries, all you have to do is share the Sweeps with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Now back to the original question, how will you spend your gift card? http://bit.ly/ZN6O0g

This is a sponsored post. I am a Kmart blogger, though all opinions are my own.

Say OshKosh B'gosh and win! $50 giveaway to OKBG

2013-04-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

I am partnering with OshKosh B'gosh to tell you about the Say "OshKosh B'gosh" Video contest and sweepstakes. Please see the bottom of the post for a full disclosure statement.
Are you old enough to remember the 80's commercial for OshKosh B'gosh? They had little kids trying to say OshKosh B'gosh. It was very cute and funny. OshKosh B'gosh is bringing back say OshKosh B'gosh in a fun contest. You just have to submit a short video of your child saying OshKosh B'gosh and you can win up to $5,000 to spend.

It is only fitting that the kids wear some cute OshKosh B'gosh duds while we did their video. Here are some better shots of their clothes.

Back to the contest. Entering is really easy. You just need to take a short (30 seconds or less) video of your child saying, "Osh Kosh B'gosh." You can be silly, funny, have the kids say it 6 times fast. Get fun and creative if you can. Once you have made your video, you can upload it to the contest here: https://oshkosh.prizelogic.com.
After you have entered, you are eligible to win:

One Grand Prize Winner: $5,000 OKBG gift card
Four Runner’s up: $500 OKBG gift cards (total $2,000)
Fifty Random Winners: $50 OKBG gift cards (total $2,500)

One more thing about the contest,NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. The Say “Oshkosh B’Gosh!” Video Contest and Sweepstakes ends 5/7/13. 18+, 50 U.S./D.C./P.R. only. Go to www.facebook.com/oshkoshbgosh for Official Rules and complete details.

It is just a giveaway extravaganza around here. In addition to all the awesome prizes you can win in the video contest, I am giving away a $50 gift card to OshKosh B'gosh. All the details are below in the rafflecopter drawing. You will need to head over to OshKosh B'gosh and tell me your favorite style of clothing. Good luck to everyone! a Rafflecopter giveaway
OshKosh B’gosh partnered with bloggers such as me to help promote the Say “OshKosh B’gosh” Video Contest and Sweepstakes. As part of the program, I received product or gift cards. OshKosh B’gosh believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words, and therefore did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products I used. OshKosh B’gosh policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations. The winner of any prize in this program will be chosen in accordance with the program’s Official Rules and gift card fulfillment will be handled by a third party.

Earth Footwear Shoe Giveaway

2013-04-28T10:26:00.001-07:00

If you follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter you have seen that for the month of April, I am an Earth Footwear World of Good Power Pinner. That means I have been pinning tons of motivational, inspirational, and down right cute things on Pinterest all in the name of doing a World of Good.
To wrap up this fun month, I am giving away a pair of shoes from the Earth Footwear Spring/Summer line. Yippee!! I am excited and I hope you are too. I have the Sugarpine and the Willow and I love these shoes.

I picked out a few of my favorites from the line and you can see them in the collage below.

They have tons of cute colors and styles this season. I'm sure you are excited, so that's get right to the giveaway.

**Please note that they Spring/Summer line is extremely popular and they are selling like hotcakes. Therefore, the giveaway winner be receiving one of the popular shoe styles chosen by Earth Footwear. You are required to tell me your favorite style to enter the giveaway, but there is no guarantee that you will receive that style if you win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I am a paid ambassador for Earth Footwear. Any opinions are my own and were not influenced by my relationship with Earth Footwear. (They really are super comfortable shoes!)

Chicken Fried Rice

2013-04-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

Some blogger buddies I know, started a fun food challenge. Each week we pick an ingredient and then everyone makes a recipe using that ingredient. This is my first week participating and the ingredient is eggs. I have been wanting to make some Chinese food, and chicken fried rice just happens to have eggs. It is perfect. This recipe is so tasty you won't be calling in for Chinese take-out any more!

Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp oil
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
3 green onions chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 eggs
3-4 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 lb chicken cooked and chopped
4 cups prepared rice

Chicken Fried Rice Ingredients

Directions:

According to package instructions, cook rice to yield 4 cups of prepared rice. Cook and chop 1/2 lb chicken breast and set aside.
Heat 3 Tbsp oil on medium in a large skillet. Stir fry the peas, carrots, onion, and garlic until tender.
Crack the eggs into the pan and scramble until cooked through

.
Add the 4 cups of prepared rice, chopped chicken, and soy sauce. Stir together until well combined and remove from heat.

Serve and enjoy!

What would you make with eggs? You can see what the other bloggers came up with in the linky below. I hope you can go visit and get some kitchen inspiration.

Over the Hill - Pill Bottle Party Favors

2013-04-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

My best friend turned 40 at the end of March. We threw a little dinner party before we went out for a night of Improv comedy. This wasn't a crazy over the top party, but I did think it would be fun to make some fun gag gift pill bottles. They were a great party favor and a fun way to say, thank you for coming. I'll admit it, I also wanted the chance to give her a little ribbing for being "Over the Hill."

These were such a quick and fun project to put together. I lucked out and found some pill bottles at Goodwill about a year ago. I have been saving them all this time, waiting for the perfect occasion.
You can buy your own pill bottles on Amazon or ask your local pharmacy if you can purchase some.

Here is what the labels say:
Thanks for celebrating with us!
Directions:
Take a handful every time you feel tired,
droopy, forgetful, grouchy, or just plain old!
KEEP OUT OF REACH OF YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPERS

Around the side of the bottle, there were some drug warnings too.

The warnings say:
SIDE EFFECTS: May experience loss of: sleep, vitality, and memory. Don’t worry, this is common at your age!
WARNING: Do not engage in extreme physical activities like getting up from the couch, walking, or climbing stairs. You might break a hip.

My labels had the birthday girl's name on them, but I decided to share a more generic version so anyone can just print these on sticker paper and make their own. I was able to get 6 labels on each sticker sheet.

Do not redistribute the label without prior written consent. Copyright 2013, CuteAsAFox.com

I filled the bottles with jelly beans, but M&Ms or Skittles would be a great choice too.

I hope you enjoy this fun party favor. Please pin and share with your friends, if you liked it.

Chevron Earrings with Duck Tape®

2013-04-16T02:00:00.001-07:00

This post brought to you by Duck® Brand. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do I have any project runway fans out there? I love that show. My husband loves it too, but that's just our little secret, okay? ;)

Earlier in this season the contestants were given the challenge to create whole prom looks using Duck Tape®. It is all apart of the Stuck at Prom® contest.

I thought it would be a lot of fun to try my hand at making a cute and fun accessory with Duck Tape®. The winning look on Project Runway was a super cool houndstooth print dress. Houndstooth is a little beyond my skills, but I was able to come up with these adorable Chevron earrings.

Duck Tape® comes in over 140 varieties these days, so you could make them to match any look you want. Even a fun and funky prom dress.

I will walk you through the steps to make them.

Duck Tape® Chevron Earrings

Supplies:

2 " Hoop Earrings
Duck Tape® in your desired colors or patterns
Chevron template(below)

Before we begin, save the chevron template images below. I made the zig zag, but one big chevron would be very cute too.

Print the template onto cardstock and print out.
Fold about 6" of Duck Tape® in half. The sticky side will now be stuck to itself.
Trace and cut out the chevron designs. Two designs per earring. I used a fine point sharpie to trace my templates and the sharpie rubbed right off of the Duck Tape®. No worries about your earrings having black marks all over them.
Place the chevron on the earrings and use a very small amount of matching Duck Tape® to secure the chevron around the hoop earrings. Voila! All done.

Easy peasy, right? I think the project took me about 20 minutes or less. It was super windy while we were taking photos, which is why the earrings are flying in the breeze. Here's more of a profile shot.

Duck Brand is really excited about the trend of creating Duck Tape® dresses for prom. They are so excited in fact that they started a scholarship contest. There is $40,000 up for grabs in scholarship money.

To enter the contest, go to Stuck at Prom® and click the enter now button. Fill out the required info and upload a photo of your Duck Tape® prom attire. A panel of judges and votes will determine the winners of the 10 cash scholarship prizes.

If I had prom age children, I would definitely encourage them to get creative with Duck Tape® and enter the contest. Since my kids are still little, I'll just have to keep getting creative with fun projects for me!

5 Cleaning Tips with Clorox SMART TUBE TECHNOLOGY and Giveaway

2013-04-10T10:25:00.001-07:00

Today we are talking about cleaning. 'Tis the season for Spring cleaning, after all. Have you ever gotten to the end of a spray bottle and been frustrated that you can't get all the liquid to spray? You can hear and see that you still have some cleaning liquid left, but the tube on the spray nozzle, just won't get it.
The geniuses at Clorox have come up with a solution to this problem. They call it SMART TUBE TECHNOLOGY. The bottle has a built in tube that eliminates the need for any tilting, tipping, or acrobatics needed to spray every drop. You can follow the arrows in the photo below to see how the SMART TUBE TECHNOLOGY works.

I went and picked up a few different cleaners with SMART TUBE TECHNOLOGY to try out. You can clearly see the tube from the outside of the bottle. You can read all about SMART TUBE TECHNOLOGY and see a full list of products at http://www.sprayeverydrop.com/

I have long been a believer in Clorox products like Clorox Clean-up, 409, and Tilex. For me, the new bottle design is just icing on the cake. I tried out the Clorox Clean-up with Bleach on a pesky stain on my counter-top. I believe it was crystal light powder and it has been there .... awhile. One spritz from the Clorox Clean-up with Bleach and the stain was gone. I didn't even need to let it soak.

I realize that isn't some dramatic example, but it doesn't need to be. Clorox products work when I have a mess to clean-up and that's why I use them.

I put together a list of five handy cleaning tips to share with you. I hope they help you keep things nice and tidy at your house.

The first tip of wiping up immediately is for me! I am guilty of causing a little spill and saying, "I'll get that in a minute." Later when it's all dried, it's much more difficult to deal with. I need to remember it's worth the time to stop what I'm doing and clean it up now.

I am please to announce that I am giving away 5 coupons for free SMART TUBE TECHNOLOGY products to one lucky reader. So one person will get all 5 coupons. That should keep things shiny and sparkling at your house.You can enter the giveaway in the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
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Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Clorox and the Motherhood. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Teaching your kids about hunger

2013-04-06T02:01:00.001-07:00

This post brought to you by Walmart. All opinions are 100% mine.

Last year I had the opportunity to share with you the Fighting Hunger Together initiative and I am very pleased to be do so again. According to the USDA, more than 50 million Americans live in food insecure households, and more than 16 million of those impacted are children.

This year Fighting Hunger Together is focused on hunger relief across the nation. Walmart is teaming with Feed America and 10 of the most well known food companies in America to bring $3 million dollars in grants to hunger programs and generate millions of meals for local Feeding America food banks and their partner agencies across the U.S. between April 1 and April 30.

Over the holiday season I took several opportunities to discuss hunger and the less fortunate with my children. It really helped them become grateful for what they have, as well as learn the importance of giving to others in need. I am grateful that writing about the Fighting Hunger Together initiative has given me another opportunity to sit down with my children to talk about hunger and how we can help.

I think the best way to teach kids about important subjects is to keep it simple and short. My kids are 7 and 5 so I lose their attention if I don't keep it at their level. To teach them about hunger, I did a little social experiment with them.

I set down two covered bowls in front of them. One had popcorn, and the other one was empty. The photo below is not staged at all, I just snapped away as I told them to remove their covers.

We talked about how this made them feel and then I asked them how we could fix the problem.Of course they decided everyone would be happy if we just shared the food. I could see the internal struggle on my sons face. It was a sacrifice to share, but I could also see how good he felt when he saw how happy his sister was.

It was a very simple but powerful experiment. I highly recommend you give it a try.

There are two ways that you and your family can get involved in the fight against hunger.

1. Go to Fighting Hunger Together and vote for your local foodbank. The 100 winning food banks will share $3 million in grants.

2. You can volunteer at your local hunger relief organization and really help. You can find information about volunteering at Fighting Hunger Together.

I really encourage you to Vote and volunteer to fight hunger this spring with Walmart. Every little bit helps!

Little girl nail art with Piggy Paint Giveaway

2013-04-05T21:26:00.002-07:00

My five year old daughter LOVES to have her nails painted. It's her favorite thing. If she had her way, every single finger and toe would be painted a different color. I also find it is a great way to get some mommy/daughter bonding time in. It's a fun "no boys allowed" activity in our house. I love how excited she gets, but I don't really love the chemicals found in nail polish. She is past the point of sucking on her fingers, but she's a kid and her fingers end up in her mouth plenty.

I have heard really great things about Piggy Paint, so I was thrilled to get the chance to try it out for myself. The tagline is Natural as Mud, and I love it. It is non-toxic and there was no odor that I could detect. Make sure you stick around until the end, because I have a discount code and I will be giving away some Piggy Paint to one lucky reader.

Nail art on small girls can be a little tricky. Their nails are so teeny tiny. I've found that I am the most successful when I keep the designs simple. Below, I did a photo collage of the steps to create some cute and simple nail art with Piggy Paint.

Supplies: Piggy Paint, Blow Dryer, Toothpicks
1. Paint Base coat and blow dry on low heat for 1 minute. That’s about two rounds of the ABC song.
2. Draw flower shapes, dots, hearts,etc on with a toothpick.
3. Add any other colors, like the inside of the flowers and blow dry again to achieve maximum chip resistance.

Here's a little better view of her nails.

She really loves her pretty nails. She is already making big plans for all the other colors and designs that she wants.

Piggy Paint also has a special nail polish remover too. I hate using acetone based polish removers, they are just so harsh! I am definitely going to look into getting some of that. Piggy Paint is available in select Walmart stores as well as walmart.com. Remember that Piggy Paint isn't just for little girls. It's great for pregnant women as well as anyone who wants an earth friendly way to paint their nails.

Good news! Now through April 30, 2013, you can get 15% off your order at PiggyPaint.com. It's simple, just enter code: “PiggyFun” at checkout.
It's giveaway time. One lucky duck will win a Toe-tally Fancy 3 polish kit from Piggy Paint. That's a $24.99 value. This giveaway is going to have a quick turn-around time, so make sure you enter quick!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Piggy Paint. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

7-up Slushie with Dollar General

2013-04-05T19:00:00.001-07:00

This post brought to you by Dollar General. All opinions are 100% mine.

Dollar General sells brand names at a great value price. Right now, Dollar General has a great promotion going on. If you buy three participating 2 liters, you can get a FREE Mars Chocolate FUN SIZE® 6-Pack.

MARS® products at Dollar General include:
- Milky Way®
- Snickers®
- 7-Up®
- A&W Rootbeer®
- 3 Musketeer®
- Sunkist Orange®

My husband and daughter really like Rootbear and A&W Rootbeer® is their favorite brand. They make for deilcious root beer floats.

I find myself shopping at great value stores like Dollar General a lot when I am prepping for parties. I appreciate the variety of products at a great price.

Now that you are headed out to by some 2-liters, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite party recipes, 7-Up® slush. It has to be prepared beforehand, which can really help you out on party day. My favorite flavor is Pink Lemonade with 7-Up® but you can get really creative. I'm thinking a cranberry juice slush would be delicious too!

7-Up® slush

Ingredients:

1 can frozen concentrate drink. Lemonade, Limeade, Orange, Grape, etc
7-Up®
large shallow pan that can go in the freezer, such as a 9x13

Directions:

Pour your juice concentrate into your pan and add 3 cans full of 7-Up®. (Instead of water)
Put the mixture in your freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer and break up any ice chunks.
Every hour after, scrape up your slush mixture. If you let it freeze hard it is very difficult to scrape into slushie form.
Repeat until your slushie is completely frozen (approximately 6-8 hours). Freezing time depends on the size and depth of your pan. I use a 9x13, so the mixture is shallow.
Store your slushie mix in a gallon size freezer bag until ready to use.
To serve, you can either serve it straight as slush or add some cold 7-Up® in with the slush to make more of a slush drink.

The only picture I have is when I made it in two different colors for mardi gras. This is great for baby and bridal showers or pretty much any get together. It's also nice to make some and store in the frige for when you want a little treat.

DOLE Fruit Crisps

2013-04-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

I was really excited when I was chosen to participate in a DOLE Fruit Crisps party for Mom Central. I love to throw a party and tell my friends about new products. I thought it would be fun to get together with some of my other Mom friends and have an Easter egg hunt for the kids, while the Mom's got a chance to visit and try new DOLE Fruit Crisps. I have already published about the Easter bunny hats, bird nest treats, and the carrot egg planters from the Easter egg hunt aspect of the party and now I'm excited to share with you the whole reason we got together in the first place.

DOLE Fruit Crisps are a new product from Dole. They have fruit on the bottom and some crunchy oat topping to mix in. They can be served warm or cold. When you don’t have time to prepare a mid-day snack or an after dinner dessert, DOLE Fruit Crisps are a quick fix to satisfy your cravings. Everyone really enjoyed the DOLE Fruit Crisps. That included the Moms, kids, and my husband. My personal favorite was the Apple Cinnamon. It reminded me so much of apple pie, especially when it was all warmed up. Yummy!

The great news is that the DOLE Fruit Crisps are only around 160 calories for each cup. It's a really great pick-me up snack. As part of the party, I received some tip sheets for busy women. It has some great tips like buying a sharpie that matches your nail polish so you can do some quick fixes for chipped nails.

Another great tip was to keep some peach juice and vanilla on hand so you can make a Peach Crisptini Mocktail when you have guests drop by. A Peach Crisptini is simply peach juice with a splash of vanilla. I made up a big pitcher and served that at the party too. Peach flavor isn't my personal favorite, but lots of people really loved it. My husband equated it to drinking the peach liquid out of homemade canned peaches. To him, that is just about the best thing ever.

Here are some pictures of the fun we had at the party. You'll have to excuse my cheeseball friends. Get a camera out and they are sure to ham it up. We had such a wonderful time at the party. The kids played in the grass and the adults got to sit around and visit. I think we partied for about 3 hours between all the activities!

Please head on over to Dole to find out more about DOLE Fruit Crisps. They got at least 10 thumbs up from all my party guests.

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Dole. I received product samples to facilitate my party and review, and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

Find More at Sears #MoreatSears

2013-04-01T13:50:00.001-07:00

Are you an avid online shopper? I am! I love the convenience and ease of shopping online. I especially like that I don't have to drag my kids into the store. My usually well behaved children start acting like wild monkeys the minute they see a clothes rack.
I am an especially big fan of online retailers with a large selection. I love the words "combined shipping." So,
imagine browsing a site that has mastered the art of one-stop shopping. With the limited amount of square footage in retail stores, I'm excited to share that Sears offers an expanded assortment online.
Thank goodness for unlimited virtual space! Don’t see a size, color or style you want in store? Visit the Sears website for millions of additional options at your fingertips. I'm not joking about the millions of items, they have everything!

In addition to the trustworthy Sears brands you know and love, Sears.com carries some of your favorite designer brands like Tory Burch, Ray Bans, Nike & more!

So go ahead and get everything you want in one place; you deserve it. With new arrivals every week, you never know what you’ll find! http://bit.ly/X7zM09

Right now is a great time to head over to @Sears and get started on your Spring/Summer wardrobe updates.

This is a sponsored post. I am a Sears blogger, though all opinions are my own.

Frogglez Goggles

2013-03-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

I apologize in advance to anyone stuck in snow and cold weather. I'm not trying to rub it in.However, in Arizona the weather is heating up. It's hit 90 a few days and it's pretty steadily in the upper 80s. Around these parts, we are thinking about swim season already.

My kids are not natural swimmers. Swim lessons have been a pretty traumatic affair historically. The kids are much improved, but it's something they have to work hard at. The one way we found to get the kids to put their face in the water was to have them wear goggles. It helped a lot with the fear of going underwater. Goggles are great, but those rubber straps are terrible to adjust and they never stay in place very well. Swim teachers can't take the time to stop class and fix their goggles, so it can be a bit problematic.

Summer 2011 - That looks says, "These Goggles are too tight." It also says, "I will remember forever how you tortured me with swim lessons. I hope you enjoy the old folks home I'm going to put you in."

I was looking through my photos and came across the kids at the Color Party. We had them wear swim goggles to protect their eyes from the powder. I had to laugh, because the pictures I have before the fight are all of the kids trying to get their goggles on right and adjusted properly.

I just found out about a new pair of goggles on the block. They are called Frogglez Goggles and they really look like they will solve so many of my problems. The strap is soft and molds to your child's head. They look pretty cool too! They come in two sizes and are meant for swimmers age 2-10.

Frogglez Goggles are brand new, in fact they are taking pre-orders right now over at Indiegogo. The best part apart the pre-order is that you get 25% off. The retail price is $20, so you get the goggles for $15 plus free shipping in the US. That's an awesome deal.

Frogglez Goggles put together a great video, so you can see how easy they are to put on, even for smaller children.

My #1 reason for supporting Frogglez Goggles is that these were made by a Dad with 3 kids of his own who got sick of messing with swim goggles and decided there had to be a better way. I love that he invented these goggles and he is making it happen for his kids.

I really think small business owners and innovators should get all the support in the world. You can head over to Indiegogo and claim the Early Bird special for $15 to get your discounted Frogglez Goggles with free shipping.

Information for this post has been provided by Frogglez Goggles in partnership with the SheHeard Influencer Network, however, all opinions are my own.

Bunny Ears Hats with Poofy Tails

2013-03-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

Here is one last post to show you from the Easter Egg hunt last Saturday. I thought it would be fun to have a craft for the kids to do while we waited for everyone to arrive for the egg hunt.

I saw some cute bunny hats with tails on I Gotta Create. To make things even easier, I created a bunny ear template to share with you. I tend to get panicky when I have to free-hand anything. I'm guessing I'm not the only one in that same boat.

Let's get crafting!

Bunny Ear Hats with Poofy Tails

Supplies:

2.5" strip of Poster Board stapled to the correct head size
2 - 2.5" x 12" strips of patterned scrapbook paper.
Two outer ear shapes cut from card stock - Click for Template
Two inner ear shapes cut from patterned scrapbook paper - Click for Template
Stapler
Glue or some kind of adhesive
White grocery bag pom pom made from the I Gotta Create tutorial

Instructions:

1. Download the Bunny Ear Template and cut all the ear pieces out.
2. Glue the inner ear pieces into the center of the outer ears.
3. Staple the ears to the poster board. Leave 1-2" of space in between the ears.
4. Glue the long scrapbook paper strips to cover the poster board. The papers will overlap, so you can either trim them down or place them to overlap on the sides.
5. If you haven't already done so, follow the tutorial for a plastic bag pom-pom at I Gotta Create. Staple the pom-pom to the back of the hat.

These were a really big hit at the party. The moms ended up making them for the most part, but the kids liked wearing them. Here is everyone lined up before the Egg Hunt.

I just have to include a picture of what happened when I said, "GO!"

Here are some more action shots so you can see the hats from different angles and the different color combinations we used.

I really loved this project because it was so inexpensive and it turned out really cute. I am a recovering scrapbook supply hoarder, so they only thing I needed to buy for this project was $1 worth of poster board. That's $1 and I had supplies for 24 hats!

Candy Egg Carrot Planters

2013-03-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about being a blogger is that I read a lot of other blogs and I see a lot of great ideas.

Dollar Store Crafts had a cute idea for some garden carrot party favors. I loved the idea so much, I ran out to the Dollar store to see what I could find. Lucky for me, I found just about everything I needed to make my own version.

I found everything I needed for these at Dollar Tree, but I saw these carrot eggs other places too.

Supplies:

Planter
Floral Foam or other filler
Carrot Easter eggs 8/$1 at Dollar Tree
Empty egg carton
Egg filler, such as jelly beans
Green Paper shred

Directions:

Step 1. Place some floral foam in the planter to get some height for your eggs.

Step 2. Add your egg carton and paper shred.

Step 3. Fill your carrot eggs with candy and insert into the egg cartons. You will probably want to fill in with more grass after you place your eggs.

I made two of these to put on the table of my Easter egg hunt. That way even the adults could get some eggs, even though they weren't out hunting in the grass for them.

I received this adorable egg Ferris wheel from a friend, so I threw some carrots in there too. I just love all the clever eggs you can buy now. There are so many more options than just the plain plastic eggs.