Making a Cold & Flu Kit Featuring #FloridaOJ!

February 16, 2012 By 4 Comments

I may have mentioned about a million times just a few times that I was sick for almost all of January. Justin didn’t get sick, which I attribute to his daily Orange Juice smoothie habit, but Shane & I both got hit with the flu. While Shane recovered after about four days, it lingered for me & I didn’t fully shake it for almost three weeks. While I’m happy to say we’ve finally moved on & kicked that big bad bug out of our home, that doesn’t mean that we’re in the clear yet. It is still cold & flu season after all. But after suffering last month, I’ve decided to be more prepared for the next time the flu comes knocking!

There’s a new pamphlet out at Safeway stores called “Be Well. Save Well.” It has valuable coupons featuring some of my personal favorite products, like Clorox Wipes and Kleenex Cool Touch tissues, but even better than that are the tips for staying healthy that are included!

You can click the image below to enlarge it enough to read them:

Inspired by the tips in the pamphlet {and my hatred of being sick}, I set out to make a cold & flu kit! I headed to my local Von’s, which is the Safeway chain out here in Vegas, since they have such great prices and because they’re the ones who inspired me to do this in the first place! To make my body less susceptible to illness, I stocked up on produce & nuts- but more importantly, I also got a big ol’ jug of Florida Orange Juice!

I also stocked up on my must-have’s for when I’m sick: Hall’s cough drops, DayQuil & NyQuil, Ginger Ale, crackers, Be Koool patches {those ones are for Shane}, and of course the Kleenex Cool Touch tissues featured in the pamphlet. {If you haven’t tried them yet, do so immediately. I’ve decided they’re the only kind I’ll use now.} I got Clorox Wipes, too, to help prevent the spread of germs.

My kit is all packed & ready to go so the next time someone gets the sniffles, I’ll just have to grab the basket from the closet & we’ll be good to go.

As I said, it’s still cold & flu season, so now’s a good time to go stock up on sick day essentials at your local Safeway store. &Make sure to pick up the “Be Well. Save Well.” pamphlet for some great coupons to use!

Learn more about the kit I made by viewing my Google+ story!

Be sure to check out Safeway on Facebook & Twitter, and learn more about 100% Florida Orange Juice on their website or Facebook page!

Susie’s Note: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All experiences are authentic & all opinions are my own.

Filed Under: health, shop Tagged With: , , , , ,

Our International Delight #IcedCoffee Coffee Klatch!

February 12, 2012 By 3 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been exhausted lately. First December came with all the Holidays involved in that, and then I spent all of January sick. Add to that the fact that we’re renovating our garage & I have been SO tired. I needed a little pick-me-up, and I know my friends, who are all busy Moms, could probably use one, too. So last week we had a good old fashioned Coffee Klatch!

I like hot coffee, but I prefer iced. So when I found out about International Delight’s new Iced Coffee- which is already mixed & ready to pour- I was so excited! I got all three flavors {Original, Vanilla, and Mocha} & set a playdate with my friends. This is where I have to confess: I started out with two cartons of each flavor, but the earliest my friends could get together was a week later. By then, I actually drank an entire carton of the Vanilla flavor. Don’t judge me.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day out, so I packed up our cooler with ice & the iced coffee and headed to the park to meet our friends. Everyone brought a hodge podge of snacks so we had ourselves a mini picnic! Once all the little ones were on the playground, I started pouring the coffee.

Everyone loved it and was excited to try all the different flavors. Everyone agreed that the Original was good on its own but would be even better if we mixed in our favorite International Delight flavored coffee creamers &I definitely agree. Everyone liked the Vanilla & Mocha without doing anything to them.

Don’t worry- there’s no coffee in that sippy cup!

Six Moms were there in all, but one of them doesn’t drink coffee so there were five drinking the coffee. Of the five, two liked the Vanilla more, two liked the Mocha more, and one left early before I could ask what she liked. So it looks like a tie to me!

Between the five of us drinking the coffee, we drank almost a whole carton of each flavor. {Let’s just say we didn’t need naps that day!}

Be sure to check out my Google+ story to see where you can find these delicious iced coffees in a store near you!

For more information on these yummy drinks, check out International Delight’s website, or follow them on Twitter and Facebook!

Susie’s Note: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All experiences are authentic & all opinions are my own.

Filed Under: events, parties Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Recipe: Chocolate Dipped Biscotti {with Sprinkles!} #MyBaristaMoment

February 1, 2012 By 15 Comments

If you haven’t noticed by now, I drink a lot of coffee. I even drink so much that we had to get the attachment for our Keurig that lets us use ground coffee instead of just K-Cups because I was costing us too much money with them! But that’s okay, because one of my favorite coffee brands, Ambiance, is ground- and I had no desire to give that up!

Ambiance is Smart & Final’s coffee line, and it includes creamers & coffee treats, too- like mini marshmallows {yum}. &Because it’s exclusively at Smart & Final, you know it’s super affordable.

I decided to make one of my favorite treats to have along with my coffee and I want to share it with you! The best part is, it’s super simple. &It only takes three ingredients!

Ingredients:

Chocolate Dipped Biscotti with Sprinkles ingredients

-Biscotti

-Chocolate Chips

-Sprinkles

Directions:

1. Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl.

Chocolate Dipped Biscotti with Sprinkles

2. Heat at 50% power for 25 seconds, remove from microwave, and stir. Continue heating for 15 second increments {still at 50% power} until all chocolate chips are melted.

Chocolate Dipped Biscotti with Sprinkles

3. Using a spoon, pour melted chocolate over biscotti. Use back of spoon to spread & make an even layer.

Chocolate Dipped Biscotti with Sprinkles

4. Put biscotti on a wax paper covered plate.

5. Repeat for as many as you’re making.

6. Pour sprinkles over plate of biscotti.

7. Place in freezer until chocolate is set- about 30 minutes.

8. Enjoy with your favorite Ambiance Coffee!

biscotti ambiance coffee

I love having this treat with Ambiance coffee since the chocolate on the biscotti is the perfect pairing with the vanilla coffee that I drink.

Have you tried Ambiance Coffee? If not, now’s a great time to switch: if you switch to Ambiance coffee from Smart & Final, you can go to www.smartandfinal.com/Ambiance2012 & enter the code on the receipt from your purchase of Ambiance to be entered to win some amazing prizes, including a DeLonghi BCO264B Cafe Nero Combo Coffee/Espresso Maker or one of six $50 SmartCash cards!

You can also click here to view more great coffee recipes & vote for your favorite- everyone who votes will be entered for a chance to win $50 worth of Ambiance products!

Have you tried Ambiance yet? What do you think?

Susie’s Note: This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias #CBias. All experiences are authentic & all opinions are my own.

Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Potty Training Tip: “Big Boy” Underwear! #LuvCookies #CBias

January 13, 2012 By 7 Comments

So now that Shane is almost 2 & a half and is showing some signs of readiness, we’ve begun the journey of potty training. While I was doing research to find out how to go about it, one tip kept popping up everywhere: to buy “big boy” underwear featuring his favorite characters, because he won’t want to, ya know, on them.

I tried this last week with the pack of underwear we had but after having him pee through 3 pairs within 2 hours, I realized it was going to take more than one pack of underwear. &Those aren’t cheap! So naturally I went to Cookie’s Kids to search for some character underwear at discount prices.


Cookie’s Kids is a website that features brand-name and in-style clothes for much less than retail price- think Ross or TJ Maxx but with a much wider selection, and often cheaper. They have clothes for everyone from infants to young adult, including school uniforms, regular clothes and even toys and accessories. And, of course, underwear! In fact, they had so many different kinds of underwear I had to let Shane choose since I was tempted to just get them all! They had Diego, Toy Story {which is the kind we already had… but paid twice as much for elsewhere}, Mickey Mouse, Sesame Street, Superheroes, Cars, Spongebob… the list goes on. Just for underwear! Shane ended up choosing the Mickey Mouse set, which is totally cute.

But of course, I get easily distracted- and what started as an online “shopping trip” for big boy underwear resulted in getting a pack of underwear, a pack of Toy Story socks {at $2.99, can you blame me?!}, a cute long sleeved t-shirt & 2 pairs of jeans. In my defense, Shane just spontaneously outgrew ALL of his 2T clothes, and even with the cost of shipping {which was a pretty hefty $12.50} I still spent less than $50!

Cookie’s Kids is a GREAT way to get cute, brand-new and in-style kid’s clothes for all ages. &While the shipping cost is high, there’s usually a coupon code floating around somewhere on the internet to make up for it or to get you free shipping {or automatically get free shipping when your purchase hits $99}. Even better- you can earn $10 for each friend you refer- AND give them $10 off their first purchase of $50 or more! {Click here to use my referral link & you and I will both get $10 to spend!}


Shane loves his new clothes!

So whether you’re trying to get your toddler potty trained or get a whole new Spring wardrobe, check out Cookie’s Kids! If you need more convincing or just want to check out the rest of my shopping experience, check out my G+ album!

Did you try the character underwear potty-training technique? Did it work?

Susie’s Note: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All experiences are authentic & all opinions are my own.


Filed Under: parenting, reviews, shop, shopping, tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Cashing In With Coinstar!

January 9, 2012 By 13 Comments

Over the Holidays, I did a lot of cleaning. I ended up with a giant bag of change that I had NO use for- unless I really wanted to go pay in quarters for groceries. {No, thanks.} So I put all of the change in a huge Ziploc bag & put it by the front door so I’d remember to take it to the grocery store and trade it in at the Coinstar machine. Except I forgot. For a month.

Luckily I remembered this last weekend- and it actually worked out for the better as I got a FREE 2-liter of soda out of it as part of a special promotion they’re doing right now! All I had to do was use a Coinstar machine to cash out my change, and then at the bottom of the cashout voucher, it had a coupon for a free 2-liter of soda. It was nice because I actually cashed out the voucher before paying for my groceries, so it felt like my groceries were free since it was just “found” money! &Since I had an actual free item-the soda- I really felt like I got a great deal!

Have you used Coinstar? I’ve been using it since I was a preteen so I obviously like it & recommend it highly! It’s so easy- you just have to collect all of your loose change, find a location, let the machine do its work & sort your change for you, and then you pick a reward! Coinstar is actually partnered with several charities, so you can donate your change to them if you’d like. They’re also partnered with some stores and if you choose to get a gift card for one of the stores, you don’t have to pay the sorting fee that you pay if you opt for cash! I have gotten gift cards before, but this time I wanted to get cash since I was already getting groceries at the same time.

I love how you can choose what you want to do with your money- and I love how simple Coinstar makes things! Rather than having to go to a bank to count or sort your change or roll your coins yourself, you can just put all your coins into the machine & let it do all the work. Brilliant!

Be sure to check out my Google+ story for more about my trip to cash in my change as well as see some photos of the process in action!

Susie’s Note: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All experiences are authentic & all opinions are my own.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Filed Under: reviews, shop, shopping Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts