Plan a Playdate with the Active Family Project!

May 24, 2013 By 20 Comments

I received $100 from Merck Consumer Care, and any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience. This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Merck Consumer Care

Sometimes, it feels like my to-do list never ends. I have to do the dishes, fold the laundry, make meals, vacuum, answer emails, make phone calls, head to appointments… and that’s just the beginning! My list of tasks keeps me inside more often than I’d like but as they say, “Summer time & the living is easy!” Now that Memorial Day is just a few days away & the summer is about to officially kick off, it’s about time we made it outside more often.

Active Family Project

Families around the country are doing the same thing as a part of the Active Family Project {AFP}. The AFP is designed to help empower moms to enjoy a healthy & active lifestyle with their families so they can live life the way they love. Taking some time to just enjoy outside really can refresh you- I ditched the dishes on Wednesday & spent three hours swimming with the whole family. Two days later I still feel more relaxed from taking some time to just have fun!

The AFP also spotlights tips & advice for fun family activities & is working to build a national community of moms dedicated to adopting & promoting a healthy & active family lifestyle. {You can learn more about the AFP here!}

Activity Finder

Not sure how to get started with your activity time? You can check out the Activity Finder to find great activities like amusement parks, campgrounds, and zoos! We’re about to have a week-long playdate on our vacation, but I plan on having some locally too. I want to hit our local zoo & a park that we all love, as well as revisit the baby ducklings we saw last week.

You can enter to win the Family Playdate Sweepstakes, which includes fun weekly prizes- including a Family Beach Vacation Prize Pack! But hurry, the sweepstakes ends at 11:59pm EST on 5/26.

Promise

Be sure to check out the Active Family Project on Facebook to join in on the community of Moms & Dads who have promised to make a family playdate! {I made my promise!}

What will you do on your playdate?
Filed Under: health, parenting Tagged With: , , ,

{Not Quite} Wordless Wednesday: Congrats Class of ‘13!

May 22, 2013 By 39 Comments

On Monday night, I got to watch my Mom get her Associate’s Degree in Art!

Graduation 2013

{Finding her was like a real-life version of Where’s Waldo where everyone was wearing the red & white striped shirt.}

I’m so proud of her for following her dreams & so glad that she’s doing something that makes her happy.

Graduation Walking to Get Diploma

Technically she got her degree after the winter semester, but after waiting decades to get that diploma, I’m sure waiting one semester to actually walk felt like nothing.

Graduation 2013 Balloons Cascading

She actually started working on her Bachelor’s at the University that I went to this last semester so I’m excited to watch her walk again in a couple of years!

Congrats to the entire Class of 2013- but especially my Mom!
Filed Under: memes, wordless wednesday Tagged With: , , , ,

10 Minute Craft: Nature Bags!

May 21, 2013 By 12 Comments

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Elmer’s. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Shane & I love doing crafts together. Unfortunately, I’m not that crafty & prefer to do simple projects. Fortunately, he isn’t picky & will happily sit down to do anything that involves craft supplies. Just getting to play & experiment with glue, scissors, special papers, stickers, glitter, pom poms, whatever is fun to him & so I try to do at least one craft per week {although we often do more}.

Since the season is changing & lots of things are happening in nature, I thought we’d make a super simple Nature Bag craft this week! The goal is for him to take the bag with when we go on walks so that he can easily collect nature items that he finds, like leaves, rocks, or flowers. I used to collect these things as a little kid so I wanted him to have the chance to do the same.

My Nature Bag- Materials

Materials:

-Paper Bag {preferably one with handles, but all we had were lunch sacks}
-Elmer’s Naturals Pourable Glue
-Assorted nature-themed objects {we used feathers; you could also use pressed flowers, leaves or twigs}
-Pictures of nature items {I searched for “flowers”, “pinecone”, and “leaves” on Microsoft Word’s clip art section but Google Images is another great resource}

My Nature Bag- How To
How To:

Present your child with the materials & assist them {if needed} with gluing them on however they want. Allow glue to dry fully before taking on your next journey! As an added bonus, you can go through their “treasures” once you’re home & teach them about each object.

10 Minute Craft- My Nature Bag! by @NotQuiteSusie
We love nature, so this project was great for us. Whether we’re recycling, growing {or trying to grow} our own plants, enjoying the flowers in our backyard or using natural ingredients in our everyday lives, we try to be conscious of nature whenever possible. {Yes, I was raised by a hippie. But I’m glad!}

Lots of companies lately have been switching to more natural ingredients, using less harmful chemicals & more sustainable materials. Elmer’s is one of those companies, who has a line called Elmer’s Naturals. The line includes both pourable glue & glue sticks and works just like the stuff you grew up with.

Elmer’s Naturals Pourable School Glue: Consists of 99% natural ingredients. The primary ingredient is plants-specifically, American-grown corn, which is a rapidly renewable resource. Even the bottle is made up of 25% post-consumer recycled materials, and the label contains 20% recycled paper, is printed with soy-based ink, and is applied with a natural rubber adhesive.

Elmer’s Naturals Glue Sticks: Made up of more than 88% natural ingredients, this soy bean based formula also includes a rapidly renewable resource. The sticks are made of 25% post-consumer recycled plastic, the labels are printed with soy ink on FSC-certified paper, and the card is made from 100% recycled paper board.

I love that we can now feel really good using a product that we already use all the time, just by using their Naturals line that has the same efficiency as the Original line. &Shane loves that the label is green, so there’s that.

Right now, Elmer’s is hosting a Pin to Win sweepstakes where you can win a Elmer’s Naturals prize pack & a $100 gift card! It’s easy to enter, just follow the guidelines below:

Elmer's Pin it to Win it contest

How do you include nature in your life?
Filed Under: crafts, eco-friendly Tagged With: , , , ,

Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizza #GrilledAndReady

May 21, 2013 By 12 Comments

Note: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.

I love to cook, but I still take shortcuts when I do. If something says to cook for 4-6 minutes, I always pick 4 {&check to make sure it’s fully cooked & safe to eat}. If there’s an ingredient required that I’m not crazy about, I’ll skip it. &If I have the option of buying one of my ingredients already ready to be used in a recipe, I often buy it. Whether it’s pre-cut vegetables or pre-cooked chicken, I’m all about using easy foods to save time in the kitchen so that I can spend more time with my family.

Helping me grocery shop

This is how Shane helps me grocery shop, apparently.

Last weekend, we went to Walmart to pick up some ingredients for dinner. {You can view my entire shopping trip here.} It’s swimsuit season, so we’ve been eating lighter, which means we’re trading in our breaded chicken fingers for our newest discovery- Tyson Grilled & Ready Chicken! It’s a lighter, pre-cooked & pre-cut chicken that you can eat by itself or in recipes. All you have to do is put it in the microwave for a few minutes & it’s ready to eat! It saves a lot of time versus having to dice, cut or chop chicken yourself & then cook it for several minutes on the stovetop, so it’s a great alternative for a weeknight meal or if you just love saving time in the kitchen like I do.

Tyson Grilled & Ready varieties

The Grilled & Ready chicken comes in several varieties, including Chicken Breast Fillets, Sweet Asian Chicken Thighs, Southwestern Chicken Breast Strips & several more. But are they healthy? Frozen foods can be hit or miss for nutrition but these are actually really good. Each variety is slightly different due to additional ingredients {breading in some varieties, sauce on others} but as an example, the Grilled & Ready Chicken Breast Fillets are 98% fat free and have no preservatives.

Since we’ve been focusing on eating well, I’ve of course still had cravings for some less healthy foods. So I decided to make a recipe featuring a couple of my current not-so-good-for-me cravings, but lightened up. Rather than indulge in the buffalo wings & pizza I’ve been thinking about, I put together a flatbread pizza featuring the Tyson Grilled & Ready Oven Roasted Diced Chicken Breast. It was a really quick meal solution &satisfied my cravings for a lot less calories!

Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizza by @NotQuiteSusie #GrilledAndReady

Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizza

Ingredients:
1 thin crust pizza flatbread*
2/3 cup Tyson Grilled & Ready Oven Roasted Diced Chicken
1/2 tbsp Buffalo sauce
1/4 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
1/4 of a medium tomato, diced
1/4 cup shredded lettuce
Optional: Ranch as desired

*Cook times for flatbread may vary so bake according to directions on your package. This recipe will describe how to make it using FlatOut’s version.

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Microwave Tyson Grilled & Ready Oven Roasted Diced Chicken for 4-6 minutes in a microwave-safe bowl
-Add Buffalo sauce and coat chicken well
-Pre-bake flatbread for 4 minutes
-Add toppings to flatbread in the following order: cheese, buffalo-coated chicken, lettuce, tomato
-Bake for 3-4 minutes, or until flatbread is brown
-Drizzle with ranch, if desired

Serves 1

Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Ingredients featuring Tyson #GrilledAndReady

If you’re looking for something quick, light & easy, be sure to try these! For a fun family night idea, you could make them as part of a pizza making night & let your kids make their own flatbread pizzas while you enjoy this yummy one.

Buy It: You can find Grilled & Ready products in both the frozen & refrigerated section at your local grocery store.

&Be sure to keep up with Tyson on Facebook for news, updates & recipe ideas!

What’s your kitchen shortcut?
Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m a Delta Mom Ambassador! #WomansIn2ition

May 20, 2013 By 11 Comments

I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Delta Faucets. I received a product sample and promotional item as a thank you for participating.

This time three years ago, we were in the dreaded purgatory that is escrow. Since we officially got the keys, we’ve been doing upgrades here & there- starting even before we moved in. Whether it’s something small like replacing faded & dated golden cabinet handles or something bigger like making over an entire room, our house has been a fun project that has us really making it our home.

One of the projects I have been wanting to do since we moved in was replace our shower head. The one that was here when we moved in was already dirty & gross, and though I clean it, it has some lime buildup that I can’t quite get. More importantly, I wanted a detachable showerhead so that I could clean the shower easier- it’s my absolute least favorite job but I figured being able to rinse all the cleanser off with the showerhead would make it at least a little more tolerable.

As much as I wanted the showerhead, it wasn’t a priority since ours worked, even if not as well as I wanted it to. But now I have the chance to upgrade, thanks to being a Delta Mom Ambassador!

We received the Delta In2ition Two-In-One Shower Arm Mounted Showerhead and I’m so anxious for Justin to install it! He will be doing that this weekend but in the meantime, I’ve been checking out all of the features. I just can’t believe that a showerhead can do all of this!

delta handheld showerhead

Features:

-It has Delta In2ition technology, meaning that the detachable handshower can work separate from or at the same time as the showerhead base. That means that even if you’re using it as a handheld, you won’t be freezing in the shower as you can opt to use the showerhead base at the same time!

-The In2ition handshower lets you choose your spray, so you can choose if you want a relaxing massage or invigorating spray.

-The handshower has a pause setting, so you can conserve water by setting it to trickle when you don’t need a full stream {like when you’re shaving}.

-It also has H2Okinetic technology, so it has an internal system that controls the speed, movement and droplet size of the water exiting the showerhead- so it feels like more water is coming out without actually using more water.

I’m so excited to have a new, clean showerhead that will help me keep the entire shower clean, too. &Since Shane is afraid of showers because he hates water on his head, I am planning on using the handheld part for those times when he needs a quick wash but a full-on bath {&the thirty minutes of play that entails} just isn’t an option.

I’ll be posting about our showerhead once it’s been installed & we’ve put it to the real test, but for now be sure to connect with Delta on Facebook & Twitter {#WomansIn2ition}!

What was the last upgrade you made in your house?

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Filed Under: ambassador, homemaking, reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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