2013 Reading Challenge

I am trying to read 30 books this year.  Have you joined the Good Reads Reading Challenge?  What's your goal?

2013 Reading Challenge

Shari has
read 4 books toward her goal of 30 books.

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4 of 30 (13%)

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Comment Love May 18

Are you looking for comment love?  Do you  have awesome posts but feel like no one ever comments?  Well I am here to comment on your blog! Just link up your main url in the linky below.  I will go to your blog, and find a post that I feel I can leave a genuine comment on, and comment there.  I have also been known to pin, stumble, and like posts!  You can link up as often as you want.  My only criteria is, if you can wait until I have commented, and deleted your first link before leaving another.  Just find a post with the linky in it, and link up again!

If you could share this for others to link up too that would be awesome!

Kool-Aid Liquid is Here!

Is it just me, or does Kool-Aid remind you of your childhood too?  Kool-Aid is one of those iconic brands, that you just know.  The Kool-Aid Man is an iconic spokespitcher has been the same forever.

But Kool-Aid has launched a new campaign called Smile!  It launches the make over of Kool-Aid Man, and a new addition to their product line.

They now have Kool-Aid Liquid! When we make a jug of Kool-Aid, the boys feel like they need to drink the whole thing.  I like to mix up what they drink, so they get a variety of things to drink.

With the new liquid formula, you use 1 shot per 8 ounce glass, of water.  My hubby did the math, and you can get a lot more out of these shots then the powder formula.  Plus no sugar needed!

It tastes the same, but it much more portable! If you have a bottle of water on the go, you can just do a squirt of this (which you can easily keep a bunch in your purse).

Giveaway Listings

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Giveaway Listings

Do you have a giveaway to advertise? What about just looking for great giveaways to enter? This is the place for you!

All my current giveaways are listed on the side bar, so don't forget to check them out too!

You can link up here:





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Get Summer Ready With Target #Giveaway

This summer, my hubby and I have a lot of home improvements we want to work on.  Since this long weekend is the unofficial summer kick off, we have started working on the small things that we can easily get finished.  And we are making our summer checklist for projects to get finished, and fun to have.

Target Canada sent me a checklist for summer to share with you! 

ROAD TRIP ESSENTIALS
The family road trip can be tough – often inching along as everyone hits the highway for the inaugural cottage visit or weekend away. To keep kids occupied (and drivers sane), be sure to pack the following:

•   Snacks – keep a secret stash of goodies to make a long trip a bit more bearable (and fast food pit stops to a minimum). Target’s owned brands Market Pantry and Archer Farms have a variety of snack items including fruit strips, granola, chips and popcorn to snack on along the way
  
•   Car friendly games – for long drives, best to pack some car friendly games and books to keep little ones occupied and entertained.
  
•   iPad – make sure the family iPad is fully charged for tech savvy kids to quietly play their favourite games in the back.
  
•   DVD – great for a rainy day or dull drive, pack favourite movies for the DVD player, such as The Rise of the Guardians, Mulan or The Lorax.
  
•   Safety First – with so many cars on the highway, make sure to have a fully stocked first aid kit in the trunk. 
  
  COTTAGE WEEKEND
  May 2-4 often marks the opening of family cottages across the country. Load the family van with these essentials to ensure everyone has a great weekend together and is ready for the summer:
  

•   Cottage comfies - Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate for the long weekend. Be sure to pack warm clothes and blankets if temperatures drop at night. The Roots Outfitters for Target collection has hoodies and jogging pants for the whole family to keep warm round the campfire.
  
•   Sun/Skincare – be sure to hit the pharmacy aisle to be prepped for the elements. Don’t forget sunscreen, bug spray and a first aid kit for the cottage and boat. Target’s Up and Up line has everything to stock the medicine cabinet with all essentials for the summer.
  
•   Meals – bring foods that are easy to cook so you can spend more time outside having fun with family and friends. Frozen pizzas and chips and dips are easy items to have on hand for quick bites and easy but delicious appetizers for guests.
  

SUMMER ENTERTAINING
Canadians love to entertain outdoors and take advantage of beautiful summer-like weather. Target has everything from Bublé to bistro sets to make entertaining a breeze this season:

•   Plastic makes perfect – with kids running around in bare feet, plastic dishes and stemware make entertaining outside stress free. Target’s Threshold collection carries colourful dishes and serving trays to create a beautiful outdoor tabletop.

•   Accessorize – gardens and greenery provide a beautiful backdrop for any occasion. Add to the outdoors with seasonal accessories including bright patio rugs, umbrellas and pillows.

•   Ambiance – set the mood with outdoor lanterns and low background music (but remember, sound travels!)

•   Food - check the grocery aisle for quick and easy appetizers to pop in the oven as guests arrive. Archer Farms’ Spanakopita and Lobster and Cheese bites are crowd pleasers – just make sure you have enough on hand for seconds! 

  
  

I like the Accessorize tip, as we did just that as we were there today!  They have some beautiful patio sets, but we already have one that works great.  However, our patio cushions needing replacement, so while we were there, we saw these ones:

 

We brought them home, and they really look great on our set, and made a real difference over the neutral ones we had before:

They also have all kinds of yummy food, and home essentials.  Anything that can get you ready to celebrate the summer.  They shared 2 great recipes that I will be posting in the near future so keep an eye out for those!

Target is offering one $50 Gift Card for a giveaway!  Isn't that awesome?  This is open to Canadian readers only.

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How To Make An H Building Cake

One day my 6 yr old son, brought me 2 pieces of paper, and said "Here Mommy.  Here is how you make an H-Building Cake."

Now, I have to admit I didn't understand why I would want to, but I just said "ok, thank you buddy."

That night at bedtime, he handed me a book he wrote for me to read to them.  It was all about an H Building.  So I knew I had to make that H building cake.

Here are the instructions I was brought:

 The Directions say:
How to make a "H" building

cake.

Step 1. get Icing and make It a letter H.

Step 2 don't let it melt

put it in the fregerator.

Step 3 put sprinkles on it.

Step 4 mix up colord Icing

on the Cake

Then he drew a picture for me to see.

He later told me those lines going up (which I thought was to make it look 3-D), were climbing ropes.  So I knew I needed something for that.

Ok so my hubby and I giggled a lot.  And he came in and asked Daddy what he thought about it, and my hubby said "It's great buddy, but I think you need some cake in this recipe.  If not, the icing will just be a big blob."

When he noticed me starting to make this cake a few days later, he says "Mommy, we need something else, please don't make it just an icing blob" LOL

I assured him that I would do my best to make it the same as he is thinking, but I did have to make my own changes to the instructions.

I wanted to share with you what I did, but please remember, I am NOT cake boss! LOL I am not skilled in decorating at all:

First thing I did was used a cake mix to make 2 cakes.  I used I did a small square pan, and then an 11x7 pan.  I popped mine in the fridge to cool faster, so we could eat them that evening.

 I covered a cutting board with tinfoil, so I had a good working surface.

 Next I took the long cake and put it upside down on the cutting board, and cut it in 1/2.

 The next step was to put icing on the 2 pieces that I had just cut.  I made sure to get down the sides on the inside as I wanted this to be my "glue".

Next I cut a small piece from the small square cake, and placed it in between the long pieces.  I later used the left over icing to let the boys have left over cake for desert while we were waiting for Daddy to come see the master piece.

I then filled in any gaps, with the icing and iced over the middle part.

I was going to use licorice for the ropes, but hubby and our middle son bought the ingredients and they picked out gummy worms.  They were a huge hit (and note I was corrected that the ropes needed to go all the way up so I fixed this later).  Ok so I just gently placed the gummy worms on, where the picture showed.

Next for the middle part that is all scribbly lines, I used these scribblers to make it easy to create the same effect he made.

This is what it looked like with the scribblers.

I showed him what I did.  And he loved it so much, but gently pointed out that the ropes could go all the way to the top, but that what I did was ok too. LOL

Of course I fixed it.  

When we went to eat the cake, he looked me straight in the eyes, and said:

Mommy, this cake was my wish, and you made my wish come true.  Thank you so much.

And that right there is why I do what I do.  It was such a simple thing to do, and this is something that he will remember, maybe not the cake, but that Mommy makes his wishes come true.

S is for StickMan

This week's ABC Photo Share is S....so I had to do a tribute to Mommy's little StickMan:

Giveaway Listings

Do you have a giveaway to advertise? What about just looking for great giveaways to enter? This is the place for you!

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Celebrate with Ring Pop #Giveaway

Ok who doesn't love Ring Pops?  No one, right? I mean seriously still enjoy them.  They are the fanciest candy you can ever eat.

Well Bazooka Candy Brands has launched My Ring Pop, a new e-commerce site where consumers can personalize their Ring Pops!



Do you see the pic at the top?  It has some personalized ones in and amongst the regular ones!  We even discovered they have gummy ring pops now too!

MyRingPop.com will allow Ring Pop® fans to choose the flavor, color, and wrapper design for their very own edible bling with a choice of birthday, wedding, and general celebration themed wrappers.  Ok, how awesome would these be for a wedding shower, or wedding favors? 

Included in the purchase, you can print personalized messages on the wrappers to share a sweet note along with the sweet treat. The flavor selection includes Ring Pop® brand top sellers Strawberry, Cherry, Blue Raspberry, and Watermelon, and ordering options are conveniently available in perfectly party-sized increments of 25 Ring Pops®, up to 500.


I love this idea!  I mean I think they would make great end of the school year treats, wedding favours, birthday party take home, etc etc!


Would you love to win a selection of Ring Pops?  All you have to do is fill out the rafflecopter form below (Please note: This is US only):

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Healthy Surprise #Giveaway

I am always trying to eat healthier, but really, I like my chocolate!  Oh and how can ignore chips and other yummy snacks?  Not this gal!

I do have a sugar intolerance, and that means that if I want sugar free options I am always eating some sort of chemical concoction to simulate sugar flavour without making me sick from the sugar.  But then I worry about the lasting effects of these foods.

I was looking around the internet for monthly subscription boxes, since I've always been a sucker for those.   I came across Healthy Surprise.

This is a unique monthly subscription box company, not like any other I have come across.  I wanted to share their video because I feel like it explains it well, and it is short! LOL I am not a fan of long videos I have a short attention span so I end up losing interest ha ha



I know I have a lot of gluten free friends who say trying to find things they can eat is time  consuming and they  have to be on constant guard.  Also trying to eat healthy is very time consuming to find healthy snacks, by reading the ingredients, nutrition charts and researching.  Imagine if all you had to do was check your mail and you had a box full!!!

I have to admit I am not really good at eating healthy and when I opened some of the products I looked at them and thought: "hmmm that doesn't look tasty" LOL But YUMMMMMMMM they all were very tasty.

For full disclosure, some were too spicy and 1 had pineapple in it so I couldn't eat that as I have an allergy to it.  Sadly it's not a common allergy so I still have to be on red alert, but in all natural snacks they usually have that in big bold letters on the front of the package! "Woot look at us we have pineapple in here! We are deliciously fancy!" LOL ok maybe they don't say that but that's how I read it.

The company is great to deal with, and my box came so fast! I found some great companies and products that I can now look for and purchase.  This is really great to just grab something out of the box and eat it.  I felt good about giving it to my boys, as well.

Would you like to try one?  I am able to offer a box for giveaway! YAY! Just fill out the rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway Listings

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Life Insurance Infographic

Embedded from FidelityLife.com

Star Wars Mega Models

There was a time in my life when I hadn't watched Star Wars! I know shocking for a kid born in the 70s and growing up in the 80s.  But alas, it is true.

That all changed when I was working at Value Village and talking to my supervisor.  He mentioned some quote and I looked at him like he had 3 heads.  He said "Star Wars quote, Shari".  My response of "Oh yeah...I've never seen it" was clearly not acceptable! LOL  So he brought in his set of 3 (that was before the next set came out), and he told me it was my assignment to watch them.

Well my parents weren't fans so they went out and I pretty much watched all 3 on the Saturday because I had the day off.  I have to say after that I was a fan.  Now, I am not saying I am a mega fan, but I like the movies, and have watched them over and over, with my hubby.  We own all the current ones.

Thanks to Angry Birds and the fact that I have bought a few things for hubby, our boys are starting to know about Star Wars too.

Our oldest loves crafts, and keeps telling me he wants to make his own "Tie Fighter".  So when I saw Star Wars Mega Model book from DK Publishing, I had to have it!!

This is a very cool book!  I am hiding it for my son's birthday LOL because I am going to be super mom!!! Seriously it is quality cut outs.  You can make actual pieces from Star Wars, such as the tie fighter, a light saber, yoda and Boba Fett's Helmet!

The book is 8+ but we will help our soon-to-be 7 yr old to make the items, if he can't do it on his own.  We have done books like this before with him, and he needed help but he watched us very closely.  I think he gets it more now.

I think these would be cool for older people too.  This would be a cool thing to have displayed on your desk at work if you are a Star Wars fan, and no worries if it gets stolen as it isn't an expensive item, and you can just make more! LOL

DK always has tons of cool books that will be of interest to someone in your family!  They also make great gifts, and the pricing is very reasonable.  Usually I am surprised at how inexpensive they are!

Payday Loans

Due to unavoidable and unexpected events that may occur in your life, you may be obligated to find a set sum of money within a specific timeframe. 

Most everyday working people are required to budget their money effectively to ensure payment of all household obligations. But, in this day and time, there are so many unexpected events that occur, whereby you will need to acquire funds right away. 

Usacashservices.com is an established business that will assist you with getting the funds to accommodate those unforeseen events. USA Cash Services provide a convenient and easy method for you to immediately gain emergency cash funds within the next business day after applying. There are no hidden fees for using the service. Any additional cash advance fees will be disclosed to you when you apply for a certain amount of money. 

For instance, Usacashservices.com offers Nevada Payday Loans, and when you select the loan amount and length of the loan, you will be provided with the amount of your actual loan fee and your APR amount. 

You have the option of applying online using a secure database. Simply complete the online application and your money will be direct deposited into your bank account. You may also enter one of their store locations to apply for a loan. Usacashservices.com offers Nevada Payday Loans as well as other states, including California, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.

Disclosure: Please note this is a guest post.

Swagbucks Code

There is a new swagbucks code out!! Don't miss out: MoneyTrees 

Comment Love

Are you looking for comment love?  Do you  have awesome posts but feel like no one ever comments?  Well I am here to comment on your blog! Just link up your main url in the linky below.  I will go to your blog, and find a post that I feel I can leave a genuine comment on, and comment there.  I have also been known to pin, stumble, and like posts!  You can link up as often as you want.  My only criteria is, if you can wait until I have commented, and deleted your first link before leaving another.  Just find a post with the linky in it, and link up again!

If you could share this for others to link up too that would be awesome!

Duck Dynasty Wisdom Wednesday

You gotta give em the look, ok. saying hey, you fool around with this here girl I'll kill you boy. talking about hey 

- Si

Low-Entry Giveaways

All giveaways listed here must be open to CANADIANS! So, if your giveaway is open to Canadians (and any other country you want as well, of course!) and has LOW ENTRIES feel free to list it here.

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Giveaway Listings

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You can link up here:





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