Disposable Furniture?

I have five very young children...children who believe that furniture is meant purely for their enjoyment (IE as a a mountain for them to climb or as a canvas for their artistic masterpieces). This can be very frustrating when you want to go for a look other than 1970's Salvation Army. Enter IKEA...the world of inexpensive, assemble-it-yourself furniture.

Our first home was furnished almost entirely with furniture from IKEA. Most of their furniture is on the modern side, but if you are willing to spend the time meandering the labyrinth that is IKEA, you are bound to find a few treasures. Take this Lack end table for example...for just $7.99 you have a great, functional end table. The best part is that if your children happen to be budding Picasso's and create a magnificent work of art on the surface (or legs, whatever is their pleasure) that you don't want on permanent display, you simply head to your nearest IKEA (grab a plate of meatballs in the Restaurant while you are there, they are Delish!) and pick up a new one! Sure, this is not the most "green" plan for home furnishings, but it's better to toss an $8 end table than to have to replace a $300 one, right?

We just purchased our third set of Lack end tables, this time choosing the black/brown color pictured above. It is amazing the face-lift a set of new end tables can give to a room.

Here are the specs on the Lack end tables (courtesy of the IKEA website):
Length: 21 5/8 "
Width: 21 5/8 "
Height: 17 3/4 "

available in 8 colors (birch effect, black, black-brown, light blue, red, walnut effect, white, and yellow

This is NOT a solid wood end table (what did you expect from an $8 end table??) it is made up mainly of particle board.

Disposable or not, these end tables are a great solution for the family with aspiring mountain climbers or future artists.

The Anybodies by N.E. Bode

I want to share one of my favorite books with you. I was walking down the aisles of my local library one day, about four years ago. I was in need of something new to read, and my children were happily searching through the picture books in the children's section of the library. I love to read books written for the young reader. I find that the stories are entertaining and I like that they are usually lacking in bad language and sexual content. So, I scanned the shelves of young readers and saw a book sitting on the shelf called The Anybodies by N.E. Bode. The illustrations (by Peter Ferguson) caught my eye and when I read the synopsis on the back I was intrigued. I knew that The Anybodies would be going home with me that day.

The Anybodies is about a girl named Fern. Fern loves to read novels and has a vivid imagination...her parents love to read instruction manuals for appliances and call her imagination an "overactive dysfunction". How could such boring parents produce such an imaginative child? The only answer:she had been switched at birth. We follow Fern through many adventures as she meets her real father and learns that she has a special gift. The book is full of adventure, references to classic children's books and comical interjections by the narrator.


The suggested reading level for this book is ages 9-13.

You can pick up your copy from Amazon.com by clicking on the link below:



Want to learn more about The Anybodies, and three other books about Fern? Head to http://www.theanybodies.com/ Fun and adventure await!

Back to School Deals at Old Navy!

If you are looking for some deals on Back to School clothes, check out Old Navy. They have many items priced at or below $10. We went to today picked up some great Jeans for my kids for $10 a piece! Great quality Jeans at Discount Store prices; that's what I call a bargain.

If you have super hero fans in your house, you will love their new line of Marvel Comic Tees! These are made from a soft cotton and have great images of your favorite Marvel Comic characters. They are available in Mens, Boys and Baby Boys sizes. We picked up one of these Super Man shirts for each of my older two boys for back to school:
At $10(regular price is $10.50, on sale for $10) each, they are cool and won't break the bank either.

Land's End Back to School Twitter Party

It's back to school time again, and many of you will be looking for tips about back to school shopping. I shared a favorite tip of mine with you last week (and will be sharing a bit more before the end of the month), but you may be looking for more.

On August 20th, Lands End will be hosting a Twitter Party with experts on hand to answer your back-to-school questions. And to add to the fun, co-host 5minutesformom.com will be offering more than 20 product giveaways! You won't want to miss out on the fun. Here are the details :

Date: Thursday, August 20th
Time: 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. CST
Location: #landsend

Are you looking for some fun to pass the time while you wait for the Twitter Party to start??? Head to sc.landsend.com/packland/ and you can create your own dream back to school backpack! Watch out though, it can get addicting. Here's my fantasy pack:

Trix Swirls Gift Pack***Giveaway***

Trix has a new cereal on the market!

Trix Swirls^® combines two mouthwatering fruity colors into every fun puff that will satisfy kids´ taste buds and spark their creativity! A good source of calcium and vitamin D, the Trix Rabbit won´t be the only one who can´t resist these fruity combos, which include lemony green, berry berry blue, and rasporangey orange! *

Our family had the opportunity to try this fun new cereal from General Mills, and I have to say it was definitely popular in our home. The fun swirly colors combined with the familiar flavor of Trix cereal made for a fun breakfast. My nine year old daughter said. "This is delicious!" after taking her first bites of Trix Swirls. It was the cereal of choice two mornings in a row (with five children, that is as long as a box of cereal will last in our home)! I am sure that I will be getting requests to purchase it in the future as well.

How would you like to try this new cereal AND get some awesome art supplies for your family? MyBlogSpark has been kind enough to offer one of my readers a Trix Swirls Art kit just like the one pictured above! If you are the lucky winner of this giveaway you will receive:

1 box of Trix Swirls cereal
a colorful apron (with super fun front pockets :))
a box of watercolor pencils
water color paints
brushes
a sketchbook
and an art supply box

My children spent hours playing with the paints and sketch pad contained in this kit.

So you want to be my lucky winner, do ya? Here is what you need to do (leave a comment for each entry):

(MANDATORY) What two flavors would you like to swirl together? Chocolate and caramel sauce? Strawberries and Raspberries? What is your ultimate flavor combo?

Extra Entries:
1-Follow my blog publicly
2-Post on facebook with a link to this giveaway (leave your facebook user name)
3-blog about this giveaway (make sure you link back to this post) and leave a link to your post in the comments

Giveaway will end August 16th at Midnight MST. Winner will be contacted by email and announced on this blog. Winner will have 72 hours to respond with their contact information or a new winner will be chosen. I MUST be able to contact you if you are my winner. If you are chosen as a winner and you have NOT left an email address in your comment (or your email address is not available in your Google profile) a new winner will be chosen. Thanks :)

* Product information, product and giveaway prize all provided by MyBlogSpark
I received a free Trix Swirls Art Kit in order to provide a review. I did not receive any monetary compensation. All opinions expressed in this review are my own (or my children's) and truthful.

Thanks to http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/ for posting about this giveaway

24 cent Crayons

The weekly ads call to you with $.15 notebooks and $.24 crayons; they lure you into their stores offering deals too good to miss. You walk through the large doors and see before you colorful papers listing all of the "essentials" of back to school. The are so well organized, listing supplies based on grade level. If it's on the list your child must NEED it.

Honestly, back to school time is one of my favorite times of the year. The fresh, never sharpened pencils, notebooks waiting to be filled, crayons itching to be used call to me from across the store. I can't go to a super store in August without taking a stroll down the school supply aisle, but a stroll is where it usually ends. I admire the shiny new folders and notebooks but leave them on their shelves for others to heed their call.

Why? I have five children, three who will be going back to school this month. Don't they need everything on the brightly colored lists so kindly provided by office supply and super stores? The answer is usually NO!

Most teachers will provide you with a list of supplies that your child will need for the school year. Luckily, my children's school holds their back to school night a week or so prior to the start of school, so we can find out ahead of time what our students will need for the year. Even if you do not get this information before the start of school, it will usually be given on the first day of school (along with all of the other paperwork that usually comes home in that first week).

By waiting until you know exactly what they will need before purchasing your school supplies you can save a great deal of money by not buying unnecessary items. A book bag, a few pencils/pens/erasers, and a small supply of paper or a notebook are all your child should require for the first day of school.

-Christine

*image from google image search

Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing

Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing is a pantry staple in our home. This flavorful dressing is much more than simply a salad dressing (although it does taste great on a simple salad of mandarin oranges, chicken, almonds and chopped lettuce).

Our favorite use is as a stir fry style sauce. Here is what you will need to try it at home:

Stir Fry with Pasta

1/2 cup Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing
1 Tbs Peanut butter
1/2 tsp Chili garlic paste (optional, this is spicy and adds heat to the dish, if you have kids who are sensitive to spicy, I would leave this out. You can find this in the ethnic foods section of your local grocery store in the Asian section)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces (uncooked)
1/4 cup sliced carrots
1/4 cup sliced celery
2 Tbs chopped almonds or peanuts (or use chunky peanut butter above)
1-2 green onions sliced (white and green parts)

1/2 of a 1lb package of fettucine-cooked al dente

Add the dressing, Peanut Butter and Chili garlic paste to a frying pan or wok over med heat. Heat through for a minute then add the chicken, carrots, celery and nuts. Cook over med heat until the chicken is no longer pink in the center. Toss chicken mixture with the cooked pasta and green onions.

Another favorite use is creating a kicked up, Asian style barbecue sauce! This is awesome on chicken (especially if you use the dressing as a marinade before cooking. We also love to add this to hot dogs while grilling or frying. My kids can't get enough of hot dogs with kicked up barbecue sauce!

Asian Barbecue Sauce

3 parts your favorite barbecue sauce (we usually use Kraft, but it is great with other brands as well)
1 part Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing

Just mix up in a bowl. I sometimes add a bit of garlic powder, but it really doesn't need it!

The great part about this dressing is that you can find for about $1.60 at your local Wal Mart super center. Keep an eye on your coupon circulars as well, since they often have coupons for as much as $1 off, making it a great, inexpensive pantry staple.

-Christine

*This post is my personal opinion of a product that I purchased for my own use. I did not receive payment or free product for my review.

I took some time off...

I have taken a little time off lately from this blog. My family got really busy and I wasn't happy with the way the blog was running. I really wanted to offer more to you as readers than simply a breakdown of other reviews and giveaways around the internet. I have decided to take this blog in another direction. While I will still point you in the direction of giveaways and freebies that I think are worthwhile, the focus of this blog will be sharing my thoughts and tips on products, services and more that I find helpful and fun as a mother, wife and woman.

These will often be products that I buy and try for myself, but some will be those provided by sponsors (I will indicate at the bottom of each post whether the review was sponsored in any way). I promise to give you my honest opinion on each product. (I may even let you know when I find a product that truly did not live up to the hype).

I have a few posts in the works (including a super fun giveaway from Trix!), so please check back soon!

Blog Party Going on Right Now!

Pink Lemonade of Life has gotten a facelift, and to celebrate they are hosting a Blog Party Bash, complete with tons of giveaways!! You don't want to miss this one. I will highlight some of my favorite giveaways here on the blog, but don't miss out on the rest, check out the whole site and let them know what you think of the new look!

Sorry to have fallen off the face of the earth!

Last week I experienced and internet outage and that really through me off. I have been back up for a bit now, but just have not been able to get back into the swing of things since. Look for more giveaway posts, a giveaway of my own and a couple product reviews in the next week!