Time to Wind Down...

and get away from blogging for a while. Our children begin their Christmas break early this afternoon and will not return to school until early January. Their grandmother will be here for a few days beginning Saturday and I'm planning on doing a little cleaning for the next few days and getting the house in order--although I don't plan on working too hard at it today after yesterday--I'd been painting our living room wall and all the cleanup that came with it. The tea in the photo above is a really good tea to relax and wind down with. I've had some good teas before, but I do believe this is one of my favorites--Vanilla Caramel Truffle from Lipton. Also, love the design of the teabag--it's a triangle shape made of a fine mesh-like material. It comes very close to tasting like a candy bar--YUM!! To you and yours, have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Busily Cleaning

...and the Clorox Ready Mop is ready for action. This is one of my favorite cleaning products and has been since it came out. I think the reason I like it so much is because it is not waxy. We have laminate flooring throughout the main level of our home, except for the bathroom floors and the icky kitchen carpeting we have. I try not to overdue it on the cleaning products, and usually prefer hot soapy water for the bathroom floors. I have found this product to work just great for the laminate flooring. I could be more diligent about mopping, but if I were I would be mopping all the time with the boys shoe prints and all. I do need to do a thorough mopping, hopefully tomorrow, before Christmas break. If you haven't found the right product for your laminate floors, give this a try. I'm sure you will like it. Have a blessed day!!

Sometimes You Need

...a little treat! And today, for me, this was it!! I spied this at our local Wal-mart and thought, for $.75, I would give it a try. I like Dr. Pepper and I love chocolate--how could one possibly go wrong!! It has a really good taste, just like drinking a chocolate covered cherry (try to imagine). I'm not much of a diet soda drinker--just give me a regular Coca-Cola and I'm in heaven. I remember right after having given birth via C-section with our first born and asking our doctor if I could please have a Coca-Cola. He told me "no!" because it would make me sick--it was so disappointing. Oh, how I wanted one! But two days later my dear husband came into the hospital room and pulled out a Coca-Cola out of his winter coat pocket--aaahhh heaven--along with having a newborn son!! My that was a little over 10 years ago! I still love Coca-Cola, but love to try new products out on the market! This was one of them! Have a blessed day!!

Clean Scents

This dish and hand soap from Yankee Candle is wonderful if you are looking for clean smelling dish soap for your pots and pans. I purchased this from a garden/feed supply store that carries Yankee Candle products and it was half price. This has the wonderful smell of lavender. I use it quite often to clean large pots that will not fit into our dishwasher. If you are looking for some great smelling dish soaps, you might want to give this a try. Have a great weekend!!

Chicken with Sauce

...Bone Suckin' Sauce, that is! This sauce is wonderful, and the next time you are at Cracker Barrel Restaurant, you might want to pick some up. I originally picked up the original style of this sauce, and then went on-line an ordered some of their thicker style.

Chicken with Sauce

4 chicken breasts
1 jar Bone Suckin' Sauce

Place the chicken breasts (I used frozen) in a slow cooker on low for about 5 hours. Take them out after that time and then cut them into chunks. Remove the chicken juices from the slow cooker and discard. Put the chicken back into the slow cooker and pour the sauce on top. You can then cook on low for another 3-4 hours. Enjoy!!

The sauce is really good, and so I wised up and googled "Bone Suckin' Sauce" and ordered several bottles to keep on hand. I have also used the original style of the sauce with chunks of chicken and pit ham slow cooked together. The combination of the two meats with the sauce also tastes really good! Have a blessed day!!

Glade's Flameless Candle

...aaahhhhh, the power of marketing. When seeing the commercial for Glade's Flameless Candle, I was wondering how it worked. On my last trip to Wal-mart, at the end of an aisle, there it was, so naturally I picked one up--the Clean Linen scent. I went home, followed the instructions on the package, and the result is shown above. It operates on batteries. The flameless candle gives off a nice scent every so often--it has a scented oil bottle that you put in the base. Also, if you press down in the center of the candle, the light will come on and flicker just like a candle. My husband, who as an engineering background, was also impressed with how they made the candle flicker. I imagine a candle ring with flowers or some type of decorative based could be placed around the bottom of the candle. If you are looking for something different to try in the way of home scents, this is something you may enjoy. Have a great weekend!!

Back to School!!

It's back to school time!! I admire those mothers who homeschool, and think about doing it every now and then. Our youngest has special needs and does wonderfully in a structured school environment, but that's not what this post is really about. If you're sending your child off to school or use a backpack on a regular basis, please consider buying one of good quality. I've heard friends comment that they bought their son or daughter a backpack from a discount store, and the backpack usually falls apart after a short period of time. Spend a little more money to buy a backpack that provides durability over the years--you won't regret it. If I may also suggest, try not to purchase one that has a type of print on it such as animals or flowers (and believe me I think those backpacks are really cute!), because sooner or later they will want something that is very plain, especially if you have a son. Sporting good stores are also a good choice for finding more durable backpacks.

Have a blessed day!!

Have Trouble Opening a Lid??

This is a nifty little tool that helps you with opening the lids off of your jars. It really comes in handy. I have noticed that from age 35 onward, I started to struggle with getting the lids off of jars. When my husband is home, I will usually ask him to help me with a difficult lid. My mother use to take a knife and bang on a lid that wouldn't open hard enough to loosen it--I also did that for a while. I figured I was going to have to buy some new knives if I continued this way. You get to the point where you are thinking "there's got to be a better way." It was ordered from Amazon and expands for opening lids up to 4"--not sure who manufactured it. So if you're starting to have difficulty with opening lids, you might want to think about buying one of these and save your knives.