3 Boys And A Dog » Homemaking / Housekeeping

GIVEAWAY: Betty Crocker Bake Life Sweeter

Momof3boys — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:08:19 +0000

How did I manage to get so behind? Zack’s birthday was in April, his party was in May, and I am just now getting this post written! I feel like I have not stopped since Christmas! Just when I think I am getting caught up, the UPS, FedEx, DHL, and Mail all arrive at the same time 3 days in a row.

Anyway, thanks to My Blog Spark, I was able to review Betty Crocker Cake Mix and Icing for Zack’s birthday party! They also sent me a Flip Cam (which is why I have been able to do all the video reviews) and gift card to help me make his party super special. Zack chose Cars by Disney and with the help of the Betty Crocker website, I was able to make it a super special party.

BettyCrocker.com has all your party-planning needs, including instructional videos, shopping lists, party activities and games, and even invitations that can be printed from your home computer!

Thanks to their party planning page, we were able to come up with tons of party ideas with just a couple clicks!

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We had a blast, we took videos that we will cherish for years, I took a million pictures, and the cake and cupcakes were FABULOUS!

One of my very lucky readers will win a Betty Crocker “Bake Life Sweeter” prize pack that includes coupons for cake mixes and frosting as well as all the baking tools you will need to create any cake you want!

To WIN: Visit the Betty Crocker website, look around, then come back and leave a comment saying which Betty Crocker cake you would like to try!

BONUS #1: Follow Betty Crocker on Twitter then retweet this contest. The easiest way is to simply click the green RT button at the top of this post.

BONUS #2: Like Betty Crocker on FaceBook

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, twitter, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)

#2. Follow my blog.

#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.

#4. Follow me on Twitter

#5. Fan Me on FaceBook

#6. Put my button on your blog.

#7. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.

CONTEST ENDS: August 10th at midnight CST

OPEN TO: USA and CANADA

DISCLAIMER: The information, gift card, flip video camera and giveaway have all been provided by Betty Crocker through MyBlogSpark. Any opinions stated are strictly my own.

The Barilla Family Dinner Project

Momof3boys — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:56:52 +0000

I am always super busy, as are many families today. We have sports, work, hobbies, music, doctor visits, etc. It seems everyone is always going in different directions and it is HARD to eat dinner together.

Barilla, like many widely-recognized food brands, is trying to get families back to the dinner table. They have started the Share The Table program to help families make meal times more meaningful.

I LOVE the Share the Table site! It has many things you can do to help meal planning easier and more fun:

Sweepstakes – If you join the site, you could win Barilla Pasta Fridays pasta and pasta sauce
Contests – The Mealtime Moments Contest allows families that commit to making mealtimes great a chance to win prizes through the summer like a month’s worth of groceries!
Donations – For every person that becomes a fan of Meaningful Meals at Share The Table, Barilla will donate 1 dollar to Meals on Wheels.
Meal Planning – The dinner calendar makes it easy to meal plan and when you are ready you can print a shopping list directly from the site! They even have pre-made menu plans!
Recipes – With many meal options like Healthy, Kid Friendly, Make Ahead, and Vegetarian, you should have no problem finding something you like. Find a recipe you want to try and save it to your very own recipe box!

To help our family “Share The Table,” we were sent a wonderful package full of all the things we needed to create a meal for the family. We love pastas and are partial to tomato based ones. We make spaghetti, girl scout stew, Taco Bake, Crock Pot Pizza, and love trying new things. For this review, I tried the Three Layer Lasagna. Can you say, “YUM!”

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Barilla and received products necessary to facilitate my review..”

How To Handle Your Incoming Tasks

Momof3boys — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:16:13 +0000

First think of all the things that come to you each day:

Mail: FedEx, USPS, UPS, DHL, etc
Email
FaceBook
Twitter
Phone Calls
Text Messages
RSS readers
Conversations with family members

How do you handle all of the incoming stuff and all the tasks that this stuff generates?

Imagine this: I had just returned home from the WeBlog Conference to over a dozen packages, hundreds of new FaceBook and Twitter followers, and over 1,000 emails to sift through. Plus, I had several pages of things that needed doing post-conference!

So, how did I handle it?

Step One: I got overly stressed over the amount of work needed doing.
Step Two: I decided to simplify it and write a post on what I did. LOL!
Step Three: I grabbed my brand new timer and set it for 10 minutes. With a notebook and my new favorite pen, I began free-writing or brain dumping all the tasks that popped into my head.
Step Four: I set my timer for another 10 minutes, organized my Outlook Inbox by sender instead of my date and began bulk deleting anything I deemed unimportant, junk mail, ads, or newsletters. That took one inbox from 241 emails down to 91! I feel better already!

Ways to Handle Your email Inbox:

- The Inbox Makeover
- The Trusted Trio
Step Five: With that inbox still by sender, I went through my new Twitter follows to see who I wanted to follow back and my new FaceBook request to approve or ignore them. (approximately another 10 minutes)
Step Six: Again, I set my timer – but this time for 15 minutes. I spent 15 minutes working on a post. Since I had a few in my drafts folder, I was actually able to complete one and post it in that time frame.
Step Seven: Another 15 minutes found me handling and responding to the 91 emails still in my first folder.

An hour down and I have just about handled every email in 1 inbox and posted one post! I completed this process the entire day and ended up getting all emails handled and about 6 posts scheduled! Now, I am caught up on blogging and ahead on posts! This is a great way to catch up the overflow to get your life back on track!

Note: this concept can be used for housework, too! Timers and breaking tasks into smaller tasks can really help with procrastination!

This post is linked up to Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.

Get Organized With SMEAD ORGANOMICS!

Momof3boys — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I attended a Twitter Party hosted by Get Buttoned Up and Smead. There were so many great tips (not to mention prizes) that I was inspired to write a quick, bulleted post!

We learned how to organize ourselves and our files using three wimple products!

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hjkile: Great blog on why it’s important to Get and STAY organized http://ow.ly/1ZjZ1 #filefun

hostrock: HOST Tip 1: Keep your filing system to 15 files or less #filefun #organize

PWLLem: @hostrock Eat The Frog….Get the least desirable thing done 1st! (Love that book) #filefun

hostrock: @thymeofmylife Categories: medical, taxes, insurance, legal, school, work, home, bills, just in case #filefun

hostrock: HOST Q: Have you tried the Smead stadium files? http://www.smead.com/Director.asp?NodeID=1690&item=70211 #filefun #organize

hostrock: HOST Tip 2: Declutter your files & throw out stuff every 3 months #filefun #organize

mytotsexactly: RT @thebeadgirl: RT @hostrock: HOST Stadium file great for desktop organization #filefun #organize < new MUST have! << agree!

hostrock: Shred everything you can #filefun. Be safe I keep a shredder by my trash can

kristacolvin: @hostrock it’s also inexpensive to take your whole shred bag/pile to @OfficeMax[quick + easy for big jobs] #filefun

hostrock: Keep tax records for 7 years #filefun

hostrock: @thebeadgirl #filefun 10 minutes a day gets the job done

hostrock: HOST Tip 3: Don’t hold on to paper stuff you can store electronically #filefun #organize

michellelhanson: Find lots of Smead products at Office Depot or Amazon #filefun

PWLLem: @jillyrh Check out Eat that Frog from your public Library…It helped me #filefun

mstyle10: RT @hostrock: @thymeofmylife #filefun BACKING UP COMPUTER IS A MUST DO! Trust me!

hostrock: HOST Tip Great uses for the Smead Stadium file & Super Tab Folders: Make a family communication center #filefun #organize

hostrock: HOST Tip 5: For shared files (e.g. family ones) involve everyone in how they are set up#filefun #organize

kristacolvin: This is how I used my SMEAD products! http://bit.ly/btphAM #filefun #organize @hostrock

listplanit: See how I used my terrific Smead products on ListPlanIt’s blog http://bit.ly/bGaHf7#filefun

marilynbohn I just did a Smead Product view for the new Stadium File http://bit.ly/gitoblog #filefun

That’s it. Have fun checking out all the links.

GIVEAWAY: Allens SteamSupreme Vegetable Sides

Momof3boys — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:03:11 +0000

I have a busy life and only get to the grocery store about once a month. That means that without Allens, my kids wouldn’t get much in the way of vegetables! We live by the SteamSupreme items, but I am not very open to spending my hard earned money on something I am not sure we will like. I think that is what I love the most about reviewing products! I can see if we like them before buying. Plus, with giveaways, I can give you that option!

Allens just launched several new varieties of their SteamSupreme line, which make delicious ready to go side dishes in minutes. Some of the new flavors include:

Perfect for busy families, these new varieties go from freezer to table in minutes, but your family would never know they aren’t homemade.

We really liked the Rice and Vegetables with Savory Chicken Sauce, but the Allens products that stay in our freezer are:

I use all of it for everything from stir fry to just a regular side-dish. I don’t even always steam them. I will just open the bag and add a few to whatever dish I am making.

5 (yes, FIVE) of my fabulous readers will each win 5 Allens coupons giveaways!

Allens can be bought at most grocery stores including Walmart! The rules are pretty simple:

REQUIRED: Leave me a comment saying how you try to get veggies into your kids.

BONUS: Follow AllensVeggies on Twitter and Tweet about this contest. The easiest way to tweet it is to push the green RT button at the top of this post.

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, twitter, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)

#2. Follow my blog.

#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.

#4. Follow me on Twitter

#5. Fan Me on FaceBook

#6. Put my button on your blog.

#7. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.

CONTEST ENDS: August 1st at midnight CST

OPEN TO: USA Only

*Disclaimer – Allens provided the products to facilitate my review and are providing the coupons for the giveaway winners. Any opinions stated are strictly my own.

REVIEW: Tasty Bite Indian and Pan-Asian Food

Momof3boys — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:57:55 +0000

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All the meals in the Tasty Bite Line can be cooked in 90 seconds or less and each can be purchased for less than three dollars! Did I mention that they are healthy, vegetarian, and use all-natural ingredients?

For example, the rices are all-natural, preservative free, while the meal inspirations include some of the best meatless protein sources available, such as chickpeas, lentils and nuts, which help fulfill the USDA’s recommended 5-6 ounces of protein a day.

Overall, each Tasty Bite product is carefully ‘designed’ to ensure that the nutrition values help consumers make healthy choices –fat and sodium are kept at lowered levels and the ingredients are chosen to enhance the good nutrients.

Most of the products are also gluten-free! IN fact, you can buy a selection of 48 of their Gluten-Free products! In addition to being gluten-free their products also do not contain MSG or preservatives, and are a healthy choice because they contain a wide array of vegetables that are very nutritious.

Mom Says: The simmer sauces are to die for! Although we are not vegetarian, we do have sides to every meat dish. LOL! The brown rice was great and didn’t have to be cooked forEVER as my brown rice recipe does.

For More Information:

Menu Plan Monday: SUPER Busy Week

Momof3boys — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:49:19 +0000

Yep, I have another super busy week. Where am I going to find the time to get everything done that needs to be done so that I can go out of town? Yes, I am going out of town AGAIN. This time, though, it is just me. Mom and I are taking her exchange student on a girls’ weekend. It will be fun, but in the meantime, I am stressed. In addition to trying to get some blog posts scheduled, ending the giveaways, contacting winners, wading through my overflowing inboxes, I have to be at the airport several days this week to meet arriving exchange students!

Anyway, enough about all the crazy things I have allowed to go on my schedule. LOL! Let’s get down to my menu plan. I am so ready for school to start! I function so much better when my family is on a schedule!

Monday – Kelli’s Spaghetti

Tuesday – Italian Meatloaf (didn’t get to it last week) and Potatoes and Cheese

Wednesday – Zesty Stir Fry

Thursday – Girl Scout Stew

Friday – Leftovers (between the spaghetti, meatloaf, and girl scout stew; the boys should have plenty to fill them up)

Be sure to visit Org Junkie for hundreds more Menu Plans!

GIVEAWAY: Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet Cookbook

Momof3boys — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:28:43 +0000

*QUICK NOTE: We are getting closer to the end of my In The Kitchen With Kelli Series and gearing up for my new Back 2 School Blog Hop Bash (yeah, I said HOP! Oh it is going to be great, but more on that later). I still have several items to tell y’all about for the series and also have some new items in that aren’t Kitchen related. So, just be prepared for more days like yesterday coming up! You know, days with up to 3 posts! Are you excited? Don’t forget, I have a ton of giveaways running.

With a clip-out calorie chart, six-week meal plans, free foods list, portion size chart, and “under 100 calorie” snack ideas (plus recipes) losing weight never tasted so good!

I have mentioned it a few times on here and on Twitter, my husband and I are trying to lose some weight. The older we get, the more the pounds stick! This cookbook shows us how we can enjoy our yummy, southern, comfort foods and still be healthy! In fact, there are 433 recipes to help us do just that!

Personally, I love cookbooks that are more than just recipes and this Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet Cookbook fits the bill! Although, it would have been nicer if it would have been spiral bound. I like spiral-bound cookbooks because they fit better on my counter when I’m trying to cook from them.

Table of Contents:

8 – Comfort Food Diet Basics
13 – Balancing Your Diet
17 – Portion Size Chart
20 – Water, It’s Simply the Best
24 – Lighten Up Your Favorites
34 – Choose to Move
44 – Free Foods Chart
46 – Six-Week Meal Planner
70 – Snacks
84 – Breakfasts
118 – Lunches
158 – Dinners
240 – Side Dishes
266 – Desserts (oh my the 41 calorie marshmallow fudge looks DEVINE!)
292 – Meal Plan Worksheets
296 – Indexes

With the purchase of this cookbook (or if you win it) you also get:

Full-color photos and access to exclusive web material
Access to Online Dietician and healthy resources
Free subscription to Taste of Home Healthy Cooking Magazine!(a $23.94 value!)

Did you ever know that spending 17.95 would give you so much value!? This is why I love Taste of Home.

So, one lucky ready will win their very own Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet Cookbook.

REQUIRED COMMENT: Visit the Taste of Home website, look around, then come back and tell me something you learned, liked, want to purchase, or want to try.

BONUS #1: Follow 3 Boys and a Dog on Twitter and Taste of Home on Twitter and RT this contest. The easiest way is to click the green RT button at the top of this page.

BONUS #2: Like Taste of Home on FaceBook

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, twitter, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)

#2. Follow my blog.

#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.

#4. Follow me on Twitter

#5. Fan Me on FaceBook

#6. Put my button on your blog.

#7. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.

CONTEST ENDS: July 29th at Midnight CST

OPEN TO: USA and CANADA

GIVEAWAY: Rubbermaid Modular Canisters

Momof3boys — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Get your pantry organized with reasonably priced, Rubbermaid Modular Canisters! I did and it was fairly painless… except for the 20 bucks I spent because I needed more canisters than Rubbermaid sent me to review. Yeah, you know they are good when you use a review item and immediately order more of them!

Pantry Organization Steps:

Set aside about an hour of time and clear off some counter space. You are going to need it! Note: it only took me about 15 minutes.
Start pulling out food items and place them in one of four piles. Note: I didn’t pull out canned foods, just the types of things that would go into the Rubbermaid Modular Canisters.
- Pile One: Expired items… throw these away!
- Pile Two: Donate Items… you know your family is never going to eat that cranberry sauce before it expires. Give it to someone who needs a good meal.
- Pile Three: Baking goods or other dry goods you want to put into your Rubbermaid Modular Canisters.
- Pile Four: Other keep items.
With pile three and four, decide what will go in the Modular Canisters and set aside. With the remaining items, sort into like categories. For example: soup together, snacks together, crackers, etc,
Put things back into the pantry. *Think about how you use this space. Are your kids always wanting snacks? Maybe they need to go lower so the kids can reach them. In my case, they need to go higher so the kids CAN’T reach them.
Now, put items into the Modular Canisters. Don’t forget to label so you don’t mix up the sugar and flour!

For me, I was amazed at how much each item held!

21 Cup Container: great for cereal, flour, and dried pasta – I was able to put empty two full Ritz boxes (8 packs of crackers) into it. Freed up space, plus when the crackers are open I don’t have to worry about any bugs!

16 Cup Container: Great for sugar and cookies – I put 4 boxes of Stove Top Stuffing into it! Isn’t it amazing? That one small container held FOUR boxes (well, the packages from the boxes) of stuffing!

10 Cup Container: Great for rice, fried fruit, and granola – I have a pack of cookies dumped into it in the photo, but it will also hold a box of Nature Made Granola Bars and a box of Peanut Butter Granola Bars with a bit of room left over. They will stand right up in it.

5 Cup Container: Great for baking soda, baking powder, coffee, and crackers – I actually put candy bars into it and this is what cost me money. I purchased 3 more from Amazon so that I could stack them on top of each other. One currently holds my Hershey kisses that I use for baking, one has misc snacks in it (gum, candy bars, etc), and the last one is holding mismatched silverware.

For more info be sure to check out the blog post on Rubbermaid’s Adventures in Organizing: Modular Canisters Make Me Happy! (yeah, me too! LOL)

One lucky reader will win their own 8 piece Rubbermaid Modular Canisters set!

REQUIRED: Visit Rubbermaid, look around, then come back and tell me something you want from there.

BONUS (equals 3 entries!) Write a blog post or facebook post WITH PICTURES of your pantry telling why you need to win these canisters. Be sure to link to me the giveaway hostess as well as to Rubbermaid for supplying the products for the giveaway. Oh, I hope tons of people take advantage of this bonus! I want to see other peoples messy pantries so I can feel better about myself. LOL!

Other bonus entries:

#1. Spread the word about this review by: email, forums, blogging, twitter, Digg, or putting the link in a meme. (one entry per thing done)

#2. Follow my blog.

#3. Subscribe to my RSS feed.

#4. Follow me on Twitter

#5. Fan Me on FaceBook

#6. Put my button on your blog.

#7. Leave a comment on any other post (excluding giveaways!) Be sure to leave a comment here saying which post.

CONTEST ENDS: July 28th at midnight CST

OPEN TO: USA AND CANADA

PRODUCT REVIEW: No More Dropped Dishcloths Thanks to ToweLocs

Momof3boys — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:39:01 +0000

I have some super cute dish towels that Ricky’s Grandmother makes for me every year. They have a little button so they can hang on the oven and not fall off. I LOVE them and pretty much always have one hanging there. But, sometimes those are all dirty and I have to resort to a regular dish towel. It is so frustrating to constantly bend over and pick up the dish towels from the floor! Consequently, I was excited about doing the ToweLocs review!

Not only is this a very innovative and unique product, but the creator is a mom (just like me but with less kids ) who totally understands towel frustrations. Her own words:

My name is Cindy and I created a product called ToweLocs. I have 2 kids and because of them I have invented this product. I also love to be in the kitchen and this idea started there. Do you find yourself picking up your hand or kitchen towels off the counter or the floor? This is an every day hassle for most of us. ToweLocs is a decorative and stylish device that keeps your towels in place while adding a little pizzazz to your everyday towel.

With 30 different ToweLocs designs to choose from, there is something for everyone… I really like the Glass Jolly Red ToweLocs, but am a bit disappointed that there aren’t apples. One suggestion: Be sure to review the directions carefully before trying to use them. I had a time getting the back off until I read the directions. LOL! Y’all have already learned that I am really bad about reading instructions, haven’t you?

To Purchase ToweLocs: www.towelocs.com

To Keep Updated with Happenings: ToweLocs on FaceBook

To Keep Up in 140 Characters: ToweLocs on Twitter

At a price rang of approximately 13 to 20 dollars, there is something for everyone. These really make great gifts!