Wordless Wednesday~ Neighbors

Excuse the window glare. I think we all have one of "those" neighbors. You know, the ones who put garish things in their yard that we all have to suffer looking at. When driving down the road the other day, I spotted this eyesore and immediately felt sorry for their neighbors. I appreciate a little knick knack in a yard as much as the next person, but lining your entire driveway with colorful plates on sticks is a bit overkill, don't you think?

American Idiot

When I was in high school, Green Day was pretty big. I have always had a love of all kinds of different music, but at that time, they were one of my favorite bands. When I met my now husband, I was the weird girl who listed to weird music. He wasn't a fan. He has since changed his tune (pun intended) and I catch him playing some Green Day every now and again on Pandora. So, when I heard American Idiot was coming to town, I insisted that we get tickets.

My husband wasn't totally on board with going to the show, but in the end, I got my way.

If you are planning on seeing American Idiot, just be forewarned there is a lot of profanity, drug use, and sex scenes. I had thought about taking my 14 year old daughter, but almost immediately felt relieved that she didn't come. While I am sure these are subjects she can handle just fine, I think witnessing their portrayal with her parents would have been a bit awkward for her.

The energy was high and the performers did a great job on the musical numbers. However, I wasn't sure they executed their storyline as well as they could have. It was almost halfway through the show before I realized there were 3 different stories unfolding in the performance. However, the show was still great- not Rock of Ages great, but worthwhile to see once. 

Are you a Green Day fan? What musical band would you like to see featured in a theatrical performance?

Easter 2014

Our Easter was shaping up to be a little rocky this year. Allison came down with a nasty stomach bug that lasted 4 days! She was invited to an Easter party on Saturday, and though she said she felt fine, I thought it was best to keep her home. This got me pegged as "The Worst Mom EVER!" stomp, stomp, stomp. However, shortly after the time the party was supposed to start, her belly started hurting again and I got an apology. Yep, mom always knows best ;)

Thankfully, by Easter Sunday the bug finally passed and both of the girls were able to do a little egg hunt at their grandma's house.

The weather was perfect. No sick kids. I couldn't have asked for a better Easter!

How did you spend your Easter this year?

Wordless Wednesday- Bunny Visit

We had our annual Easter party last weekend. The Easter Bunny stopped by for a visit. Yes, he is a little creepy looking.

The Fault In Our Stars (Craft)

I can't ever remember reading a young adult book when I was a kid. I pretty much skipped over that whole genre and went straight into adult novels. Harry Potter was actually the first YA books I read, and I was surprised that I liked them. My niece has introduced me to a few more that I love since then, so I guess I am more open to the young adult genre than I thought I would be.

My teen daughter has been obsessed with the book The Fault In Our Stars for the past year.

Around Christmas I decided to look up some quotes from the book for some personalized gifts I was making her. Some seemed a bit weird. "My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations." I sat there thinking "What the hell does that even mean? If the book is full of shit like that, it's probably stupid!" But, then I came across more that resonated with me- "That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt." And "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once." Awe.

I made these The Fault In Our Stars friendship necklaces out of polymer clay for my daughter's stocking at Christmas. She loved them!

The movie version will be released in theaters soon. Last month my daughter, who thinks she is going to DIE if she misses a day of school, asked if she could go to the midnight showing on opening day, then skip school the next day. I figured if a book was good enough to actually have her make that kind of request, I should give it a shot.

It was a quick read. A little sad, but predictable. Where the vocabulary of teens today is all about "yolo" and "swag", I didn't find a lot of the dialogue between the teenagers believable, but the book is filled with some pretty great and memorable quotes. By the end of the book I did finally get the whole "thoughts/stars/constellations bit. It did read a lot like a Nicholas Sparks novel, but overall, I enjoyed the book. And yes, I will be letting her go to the midnight showing when it comes to the theaters.


Have you read The Fault In Our Stars yet?

Revitalize Your Leather Goods With Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1.

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

I am a leather girl. From my furniture, my boots, my handbags, and my car upholstery, I insist on leather. Anyone who likes it as much as I do knows that if properly taken care of, leather can last a really long time. Keeping it looking its best can be a real challenge though. As much as I try to keep all of my leather items looking new, wear and tear happens anyway. I have tried many products to clean and buff those items, but I have found that some products leave them feeling tacky or sticky, or I don’t get the desired result I am after. We have tried many leather cleaners over the years, and I haven’t really been fully pleased with the results from any of them. That is, until I tried Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1.

Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1. is a natural, water based emulsion containing a mix of natural conditioners and gentle cleanser. The oils contained in this product are lighter than traditional oils in other products, so it does not overload your leather goods with oils and conditioners. You can use this product frequently to refresh and cleanse your leathers without worrying about causing them harm. Chamberlain's Leather Milk will feed, strengthen, and beautify your leather goods.

I recently used Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1. on several of my leather goods. The bottle was sent with a free leather conditioner applicator.

I used it first on my handbag, which is starting to look a bit drab after months of use. I was a bit worried at first because some of the red dye from my handbag transferred to the white pad, but once it dried, my bag was looking almost as good as new. The color looked more perky, and the scuffs that were in the bag were really smoothed over!

My leather furniture is still fairly new, so there isn’t many signs of wear on it yet. However, I do have some slobbering dogs, who tend to filthy it up. I like to do a good cleaning of my furniture every few weeks, and Chamberlain's Leather Milk was gentle, yet effective at removing the dried on bits. I also noticed that once dry, my furniture was not sticky like it normally is after a cleaning. The leather felt smooth and clean.

Before Chamberlain's Leather Milk

After cleaning with Chamberlain's Leather Milk.

I have a pair of leather boots that have seen 4 years worth of use. They are looking pretty beat up, so I decided that this would be my last year of wearing them. When I received Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1., I didn’t hold my breath hoping for results on getting them looking nice again. I was pretty sure these boots were done for. I did one boot with the leather milk and left the other alone for a side by side comparison. I was thrilled with how revitalized Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1. made the boot I used it on look after application!

Left boot treated with Chamberlain's Leather Milk. Right boot has not been treated.

Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1. was applied to the boot on the left. The right is how they looked before. You can see that many of the scuffs have buffed right out. The leather that was treated feels amazing now too. It is so soft, it feels like butter! I am sure I will get a few more years worth of use out of my boots now!

I am so pleased with the results I have received from this product. It is by far the best leather conditioner/cleaner that I have ever used! It is also used and recommended by Saddleback Leather Company. An 8 ounce bottle has a MSRP of $24.95, but it is currently selling for $18.95 on Amazon. I was able to clean my handbag, boots, and 3 pieces of furniture and only used about 1/8 of the bottle, so a little really does go a long way. I will definitely continue to use Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1. on all of my leather goods now and in the future! If you would like to learn more, visit Chamberlain's Leather Milk Website.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Simplify Laundry Chores With New Purex No Sort For Colors Detergent {Giveaway}

I can’t think of too many chores that I hate more than laundry. It’s dirty, it stinks, and it takes way too long to get it all done. Actually, it’s never really *done* is it? It is so time consuming, and now that my girls are getting a little older, I have been wanting to get them started on helping out with it. I’ve just been so worried about them not separating the clothing properly, then we would end up with a lot of ruined items! Even though I am pretty seasoned in washing clothes myself, I still goof occasionally. Just last week I put a pair of my daughter’s light colored jeans in with a pair of my husband’s dark wash jeans, which resulted in an ugly tie dye affect on the lighter pair. Whoops!

 

If I had new Purex No Sort for Colors Laundry Detergent, I could have avoided that little fiasco! 

 
New Purex No Sort for Colors laundry detergent is the latest laundry innovation from the Purex brand! Designed to simplify your laundry routine, it features a breakthrough Anti-Color-Transfer Technology which traps loose dyes in the wash to prevent color bleeding accidents in your mixed color loads, which leaves your clothes bright and clean!

Purex No Sort for Colors actually works the same way color absorbing sheets work, only you don’t have to worry about remembering to put those sheets in the wash. When the wash cycle is complete, the dye simply washes away with the water!

The benefits of using Purex No Sort for Colors:

The Anti-Color-Transfer Technology traps loose dyes in the was and does not let them settle into other fabrics.

Reduces color bleeding accidents.

Safe for all fabric types that are labeled as machine washable

Available in Fresh Scent

* Packed with Innovation, but not a miracle worker, so follow these words of advice: wash strongly colored fabrics or new pieces of clothing, especially jeans, separately at least 5 times before doing a mixed color load with Purex No Sort for Colors detergent.

In promotion of the new detergent, Purex is offering 1 Grand Prize Winner $1,000 and a year supply of Purex No Sort For Colors Laundry Detergent!


NEW Anti-Color-Transfer Technology™ helps keep dyes from transferring onto other fabrics in the wash. Enter for your chance to WIN $1,000 & a year’s supply of this game-changing NEW detergent, so you can avoid extra laundry loads.

In addition to the grand prize winner, Purex is offering 100 winners a free bottle of Purex No Sort For Colors Laundry Detergent!

The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S., 18+, and will run through 4/28/2014. Stop by the Purex Website and enter today!

WIN IT!

One lucky Theresa’s Mixed Nuts reader is going to win 2 coupons for a free bottle of Purex No Sort for Colors. The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S., 18+.  No P.O. Boxes will be accepted. The giveaway will run through 4/26. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning email before a new winner is selected. Limit one entry per person/email/household. All entries are verified. Make sure you are properly entering for the entries you claim. Failure to do so will result in your entries removed from the giveaway form.

*Theresa's Mixed Nuts is not responsible for late, damaged, or lost prizes. Unfortunately, it has happened, and while I always do my best to ensure proper prize delivery, it is out of my control once it has been shipped. In the event this should occur, I will do my best to troubleshoot, but if that gets us nowhere, your only recourse it to chalk it up to a loss and move on.

Entry-Form


 

*Disclosure- The Purex Brand provided me with a sample of Purex No Sort for Colors detergent in exchange for a product review. However, all the opinions expressed here are my own

Wordless Wednesday~ Frankenstein

 

Blackberry Smoothie

A few weeks ago, one of our local stores had 6 ounce containers of blackberries on sale for 50¢ each. I have never seen them that cheap before, so I loaded up my cart, then came home and froze them. Now, with the weather warming up again, I like to have a smoothie a few times a week. I haven't tried making a blackberry smoothie before, but with my freezer stocked, this week has been the perfect time to give it a go. Normally, strawberry based smoothies tend to be my favorite, but this blackberry smoothie recipe might knock the strawberry right out of the water! It's that delicious!

Ingredients:

1 cup orange juice
1 cup vanilla yogurt
2 tbsp honey
1 and 1/2 cups frozen blackberries
1/2 cup frozen unsweetened mixed berries
1/2 cup almond milk

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Top with a spoonful vanilla yogurt if desired. Serve Immediately.

*If smoothie is too thick, add a few splashes of almond milk until you reach your desired consistency.*

American Girl Hot Air Balloon

I was browsing around on Pinterest the other day and stumbled across a pin of a homemade hot air balloon for American Girl dolls. I clicked on the picture in hopes of finding more cool crafts from the link, but got a "page can't be found." Ugh! Don't you hate it when that happens!?!? So, to the person who came up with this brilliant idea, I thank you! 

We all know how expensive American Girl accessories are, and when I did a search for hot air balloon for my daughter's doll, I see I can get the real AG balloon set for *only* $199 dollars. Pft!

I went to the craft store and bought a wicker basket, a paper lantern, a few wooden dowels and some ribbon, and for less than $10, my daughter has her own hot air balloon for her American Girl doll. Sure, it's not as fancy as their version, but it suits my kid just fine :)

The only thing I would have done differently is found a more square basket instead of a rectangular one so the doll fits inside better.

What doll crafts have you been working on lately?

April Fools' Cake

We don't normally play jokes on each other on April 1st, but this year Allison was just itching to pull a prank on her dad and sister. She was hoping to spike all their food with hot sauce, but that sounded a wee bit too mean. So, we compromised and made them a special cake.

Which happened to be a sponge (new, of course) covered in homemade frosting.

"This must be Angel Food Cake!" my husband said when he tried cutting his fork through it. I'm pretty sure he caught on almost immediately that it wasn't a real cake.

The teen though scooped off and ate several forkfuls of icing before she hit the sponge layer, her face twisting up in a look of pure disgust, then the plate went flying across the table. Joke well played Allison!


Did you play any pranks for April Fools Day, or did you happen to get pranked yourself?