The Circle of Life Never Ends Around Our House - Desperate Housewives Style!

I swear I was caught in the middle of a reenactment of the most recent episode of Desperate Housewives.  You remember when Gabby and Bree were in the car and the frog got loose and was hopping all over the car.  Yeah, well that was me earlier today. 

It all began with an innocent trip to the local garden center.  The entire time we were there Brett was non-stop reminding me that he doesn't ask for much and hasn't been asking for a pet.  And I mean the ENTIRE time.

I decided to buy a couple plants and we loaded up the shopping cart.  At the checkout there were cute little frog statues that sit on the edge of flower pots.  To pacify Brett I told him I'd buy him one.  Happy as a clam he was naming it and planning where to put it.  Little did we know we already had a stowaway.

I loaded the plants in to the back seat of my car to keep them upright for the way home.  Something jumped out of the plant and scared the daylights out of me.  I screamed (not because I was scared, but because I was freaking out how to catch this thing).  It hopped around the car and it hit me almost immediately that I had just watched the Desperate Housewives episode where Gabby and Bree had the same problem of a frog hopping around the car and they were trying to catch it.  So I start laughing at the irony of it all.  Brett runs back in to the garden center to see if they have something we can catch it with while Kyle and I keep an eye on it and see if we can find something in the car to trap it in.

I find a small party favor sized play-do container and manage to trap the frog under it and sneak the lid on.  Laughing the entire way home I can't stop thinking about how we at least already have a terrarium for him (former praying mantis home).

As I type he is nestled in the terrarium with the light on and oh yeah... a brand new waterfall.

Oh the joys of being a mother of two boys...

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Norwegian not Swedish Meatballs - Hillshire Farm #GourmetCreations #CBias

Norwegian meatballs are a family tradition in our house.  As far back as I can remember we'd have the meatballs at Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas Eve dinners.  It's taken me a long time to master making fantastic meatballs the way my mother did.  I'm always looking for ways to increase the flavor of them because I can't seem to duplicate them exactly the way my mom made them.  

I recently participated in a shop for Hillshire Farm Gourmet Creations sausages and I immediately knew the bacon and beef smoked sausages might be exactly what I had been looking for to perfect the recipe.  We were celebrating my husband's birthday and this is one of his favorite dinners so I knew this was the perfect time to test out the new recipe.  After dinner tonight it was clear that both kids and my husband agree that the meatballs I made tonight were beyond amazing.  The strong flavor of bacon and smoky flavor came through and added the taste I was looking for in the family recipe.

Now I'm about to share a secret family recipe with you.  No kidding.  It is sacred in our household.  Follow along through each step of the shopping and cooking with pictures and other tips on the Google + album here.  Have a question on how to cook a certain part?  Comment below this post with it and I'll answer!

Norwegian (NO not Swedish!) Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 cup Bread Crumbs

1 cup Milk

2 tsp each Ginger, Mace, Nutmeg, Salt and Pepper

4 pounds ground beef

2 packages of Hillshire Farm Gourmet Creations Beef and Bacon Sausage

Butter

Flour

Milk

Beef Bouillon

Directions:

Mix Bread Crumbs, Milk, Ginger, Mace, Nutmeg, Salt and Pepper in large bowl.  Grind sausage and meat until smooth.  Mix in to large bowl with bread and milk mixture.  Mix well (you'll most likely need to use your hands).  Roll in to meatballs and cook in pan.  Rotate each meatball twice to ensure cooked all the way through.  

Once you have cooked all the meatballs, use the left over "drippings" in the pan to make the gravy.  Add flour to absorb all of the oil.  Mix in milk to bind them together.   Add more milk leaving over low heat and allowing to thicken.  Add beef bouillon to taste.  

And enjoy!  Remember - they are Norwegian Meatballs (don't you dare call them Swedish Meatballs!).

(actual picture of my dog begging for meatballs - notice he is licking his lips!)

Our family enjoyed it so much tonight that the dog was begging for some!  I made plenty so there I used some of the extra to prep the lunches for the kids in small containers.  The meatballs also freeze really well and are frequently even better the next day after soaking in the gravy overnight.

Think this sounds delicious?  Yes, it sure was.  Please post a comment here if you try them out - I'd love to hear about it!

*This shop has been compensated as a part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  All of the product and shopping opinions above and on the Google + story are completely my own.  And the recipe above is based on a family recipe.

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We Have Disneyland Grass!!!

I know.  I know.  You are probably wondering why I am profiling a picture of grass in a blog post.  Well, this just isn't any old grass.  This is the newly laid sod in our backyard, which on it's own is very exciting, but what is even more exciting to me?  Well, the sod truck's first stop of the day was at Disneyland that morning.  We were stop number two.  And yes... that means we have Disneyland grass in our backyard now.  Or at least it's close right?  (Don't burst my bubble)

I'll be selling the grass clippings on eBay after we mow it for the first time.  Kidding.  Maybe.  We'll see.  (Any takers?)

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HEXBUG Halloween Party Fun!

HEXBUGS were the life of the party.  With tracks going in every which direction and countless kids crowded around the table it was an afternoon full of fun.

Kyle methodically put together elaborate tracks for the HEXBUGS to run through before the party started, creating his version of a HEXBUG haunted house.

The new larvae HEXBUGS are really cool.  They have have sensors and cameras.  It's pretty cool to watch them wriggle and weave around avoiding objects put in their path, they seem so lifelike - yet not (which is good!).


The kids squealed with joy when I told them they each got to each take home a HEXBUG Nano Halloween Zombie bug and a limited edition HEXBUG Galileo collection. 

We even had a round of musical chairs to decide who got to take home parts of the sets and exclusive new HEXBUG larvae!  It was a ruthless battle for those seats as the kids were determined to win parts of the set!

Looking for an educational and fun gift for the kid who has everything?  You can't go wrong with HEXBUGS because even if it is a part the kid has... it never hurts to have more than one!

For more information and ideas for HEXBUG Nano parties read here.

*The HEXBUG Nano Party sponsored by Innovation First Labs and product samples were supplies to facilitate the review/party.  The opinions expressed were 100% my own and we were HUGE fans of HEXBUGS long before (hence the dozens of tracks and HEXBUGS up in my sons room...) #HEXBUGHalloween

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Did you get boo'd?

We got boo'd.  LOTS.  Why do you ask?  Well my boys had so much fun with it this year that they insisted we did not put up the sign.  So I stopped counting at 3 times.  Because of this I figured we'd better get some pretty good boo's in.  We grabbed these fantastic cauldrons at the store and loaded them up with in-expensive goodies.  

It becomes a covert operation at our house, with escape routes planned and elaborate stake-outs.  Such fun!

Did you get one of these at your door this year?  It just might have been us...  :)

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Delivering a Surprise Halloween Candy Gift Basket #DontBeTheDarkHouse #CBias

Halloween is a fantastic time of year.   With all of the events we attend at this time of year we end up with a lot of candy and I mean A LOT.  By the time we get to Halloween for trick or treating I'm already trying to figure out what to do with the extra candy!  Well, okay, the candy that I haven't eaten by that point yet...

I was so excited when I found out I got to participate in a charitable gift basket creation for Mars Candy.  My mission was to create a gift basket to deliver to someone (or group) deserving.  I immediately thought of our local Hospital - Rancho Springs Medical Center.  I spent a tremendous amount of time volunteering when I was younger.  Helping with meal delivery to people in need, to beach clean-ups and many more things.  Passing on those experiences to my kids is so important to me.  It's so easy to go on about your life and not stop to do something special for someone who works hard every day but doesn't always get the thank you they deserve.  The idea of delivering the chocolate filled basket to the volunteers a the hospital was one I was so excited about!  

There was a time in my life when I spent most of my days in the hospital.  When my Mom was fighting her battle with cancer I was deeply touched by the kindness of strangers.  The nurses, doctors and other volunteers who would make a huge impact during the roughest time in my life are people I will never forget and am forever thankful for.  Helping people in their most trying times is just what they do.  I spent so much time in the hospital with her that I would forget to eat and the left over meals and snacks that were left in the caregiver lounge were truly what sustained me those days because I didn't want to leave my Mom's side - not even to go out to get food.  I used to keep a box of snickers in the drawer to eat when I would realize it had been hours and hours since I last ate.

Leaving the basket of chocolate candy at a hospital for someone else to enjoy in their moments of struggle and as a thank you for those volunteers was something that just felt right. 

We headed down to our local Wal Mart to stock up on candy and supplies to create the gift basket.  (To follow along on our journey with pictures click here). I immediately knew I wanted to use the traditional plastic pumpkins decorated with candy.  I love Wal Mart!  The local one we go to is a Super Wal Mart so you always know you can get everything on your list, from food to supplies - they have it covered.   At this time of year there is candy everywhere, bins full in the aisles - it can be so overwhelming.  I always gravitate to the same candies I loved as a child.  M&M's, Snickers, Milky Way and 3 Musketeers are the ones I would always trade for and covet the ones I received.  So we loaded up on those, grabbed a plastic pumpkin and the special small easel to create a sign so people would know to take one.

I created M&M flowers (by stapling them together in a start shape and taping to a glow stick.  We used candies as the eyes, nose and mouth and decorated a bunch of candies around the top of the pumpkin for decoration.  

We loaded it up in the back seat of my car and headed over to the Hospital for delivery.  Brett carried it in for me (his enthusiasm to participate made me so proud!).  We delivered it to the volunteer desk at the hospital and they were speechless.  There's nothing like that feeling when you know you have made someones day!  She looked at me and said you have no idea how many people will enjoy this!  I know this is one gift basket that will be enjoyed by a large number of people over the next couple of days as they grab a piece of chocolate and that just feels amazing.  :)

Note: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias  #DontBeTheDarkHouse -  I was HONORED to be a part of this shop and have been inspired to duplicate similar types of random acts more often to members of the community in the future.  The comments above are completely my own.

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HEXBUGS have invaded our house! Plus Halloween theme party ideas

Our house has been infested with bugs.  Nano HEXBUGS that is.  Thank goodness those are the only bugs since the untimely demise of the praying mantis.  My sons have been huge fans of HEXBUG Nanos for awhile and we have accumulated a fleet of them and have habitats for them invading our family room on an ongoing basis.  These bugs are ones I am happy to allow to invade our house because the chances of finding them in bathrooms (like the lovely cricket I found that escaped from the praying mantis terrarium) are slim to none.

I jumped at the chance to host a HEXBUG Nano Halloween party.  Both my boys squealed with delight when we opened the box to find a number of limited edition HEXBUG Nano Halloween Zombie bugs, Glow in the dark HEXBUG Nano Galileo collection, several HEXBUG larvae and several HEXBUG habitat sets.  To say the least this is going to be one awesome Halloween party!  Prizes and take homes galore.

Be sure to hurry out and get some of the limited edition HEXBUGS before they sell out!  The glow in the dark mummy HEXBUGS are pretty cool and sure to make your kids feel super cool to have.

Hosting your own Halloween Party?  Be sure to grab some of these not so creepy crawlers and make some Zombie Punch, Cemetery Swamp Dip or Mummy Dogs to theme out the event!

Zombie Punch
Ingredients:
1/2 gallon limeade
1 liter ginger ale
1/2 gallon lime sherbet
plastic spiders or worms

Directions:
Mix together juice and ginger ale.  Scoop sherbet and add to punch.  Add the bugs to the punch.  Serve chilled.

Cemetery Swamp Dip
Ingredients:
1 package (10oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 container (8oz) fat free sour cream
1 container (8oz) plain Greek yogurt
1 package dry vegetable soup mix
1 loaf of bread
Vegetables (for dipping)

Directions:
Combine vegetable soup mix, Greek yogurt, sour cream, and spinach together in a bowl.  Cut bread slices in to tombstone shapes.  Arrange in a single layer on cookie sheet and bake until crisp.

Mummy Dogs
Ingredients:
I can (8oz) crescent rolls (the refrigerated ones)
2 1/2 slices American cheese quarters
10 large hot dogs
Cooking spray
Mustard or ketchup

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll dough; separate at perforations creating 4 rectangles.  Press perforations to seal.  Cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces making a total of 40 pieces of dough.  Slice cheese slices in to quarters.  Wrap four pieces of dough around each hot dog and 1/4 slice of cheese to look like bandages, stretching dough slightly to cover hot dog.  About 1/4 inch from the top, separate the bandages enough for a "face".  Place on un-greased cookie sheet but lightly spray with cooking spray.  Cook 13-17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and hot dogs are hot.  With mustard or ketchup draw eyes on the face.

*The above recipes are courtesy of HEXBUG Nano sponsored by Innovation First Labs and are on my list of fun for our upcoming party.

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More fantastic wine recommendations from fresh&easy!

I love a good glass of red wine.  Pair it with a bowl of goldfish crackers (I know only a mom would pair these) and I'm happy as a clam. 

I grew up in the Bay Area, just a tinsy bit south of Napa Valley.  You'd think with that I would be a wine connoisseur with a sophisticated palate and that I would practically spew good wine recommendations.  We'll you'd be very wrong!  I love a good bottle of wine, but when it comes to being able to explain what I like and the different flavors in a wine?  Yeah, not so good.  My way of finding a good bottle as a hostess gift or other event is to look at the more expensive bottles and try to decide from the labels what looks good.  Or I'll grab one I know I've had before and thought was really good.  I know, this is so sad, but I know I'm not alone in this either!

Way too many times I have tried something new and been very disappointed with it and vowed to only stick to ones I know are good because I've had them before.

I was recently invited to participate in a Twitter online wine tasting with fresh&easy.  I was super excited because I have really come to trust their experts opinions on wines.  Not only to they search out some fantastic wines to exclusively sell at their stores, they bring them in a absolutely fantastic prices, most of their recommendations come in well below the $10 mark.

During the online party we were introduced to Doon Buggy Red which comes in just under $10 a bottle was my favorite because I'm a red drinker. 

We also tasted the Ma Cherie Wine Cuvee which comes in under $8/bottle.

And last but definitely not least was the Dreamstone Pink Moscato which also comes in under $8/bottle.  I'm normally not a fan of Champagne and other bubbly wines, but the Dreamstone Moscato was really good with just a hint of sweetness but not too overpowering. 

All three wines would be easy and painless picks to bring as hostess gifts or to have on hand when entertaining this holiday season.  All three are also exclusives at fresh&easy stores.  In case you don't know where your local one is you can head here.

If you are a regular shopper at fresh&easy like me, you may have seen they are now starting a fantastic new rewards program for shoppers.  Staying true to their mission, they have made it easy to participate.  It's super easy, register to get a card and immediately start collecting points that you can later redeem for CASH once you hit the redeemable points.  You'll also never have to print fresh&easy coupons as they easily be loaded on to your card.   Log in on the fresh&and easy website here to keep track of your points and personalize your card with coupons you can go here.

Are you a fresh&easy shopper (fanatic) like me?   What do you love about shopping there?

*Note: I recieved the items mentioned above to facilitate the review, but note that I love the store and do my weekly grocery shop there. :)

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Special 4D Showing of Nightmare Before Christmas!

If you have (or if you are) fans of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, you have to make the trip to the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood for the annual showing.  It runs October 21st through October 31.   It will be far cooler than 3-d, it will be in 4D!  With countless neat effects like snow, fog and presented in 3D, you are sure to havve an amazing time. 

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” screens daily at the El Capitan Theatre at 10:00 am, 12:15 pm, 2:30 pm, 4:45 pm, 7:00 pm, and 9:15 pm. Special late night Halloween weekend shows will be given at 11:15 pm Fridays and Saturdays only. 

Tickets can be purchased here or by calling 1-800-DISNEY6.

Just don't let the Oogie Boogie get you on the way out...

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Yesterday we said goodbye to the praying mantis...

Yesterday we said goodbye to the praying mantis.  Kyle's heart was broken (still is).  He tried so hard not to cry, but the tears in his eyes and the absence of overflowing exuberance he always has about him was missing. 

You see, the praying mantis and I had come to an agreement.  He was allowed in the house as long as he stayed in his terrarium and ate the crickets before they escaped. 

The last few days he didn't look very healthy and I was a bit worried.  The praying mantis had quite an adventure before ending up in our house and we really didn't know how old it was.  We really weren't sure how long he would last.

He was already not doing very well (his color didn't look good and he wasn't as active as he had been) and when Kyle added in the crickets he had just purchased - they turned on him.   That was the end of it for the praying mantis.

Kyle wasn't able to rescue the praying mantis until it was too late.  After a few tears were shed, Brett and Kyle decided it was important to bury the praying mantis in the yard, complete with its own headstone...  seen in the picture above.  It was the closest they could create to a cross out of sticks.

I don't know what animal or creature will next arrive as a pet in our house... but I'm sure the adventure has only just begun...

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