Celebrate Halloween with Hershey’s!

Posted on by Mandy

Halloween is almost upon us and one thing that makes for a great Trick-or-Treating experience is great Halloween candy.  Growing up, I can remember going through myHalloween candy bag after trick-or-treating and seperating the candy into the “good” candy and the “yuck” candy. 

According to a national survey conducted by The Hershey Company, personal candy preferences may provide insight into Halloween costume choices. According to the survey:

  • About 30 percent of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, Kit Kat Wafer Bar and Hershey’s Milk Chocolate lovers will do the monster mash this year as a vampire, witch or monster.
  • Fans of Twizzlers Twists may get the chance to show their dance moves as they twist the night away dressed in garb from the 1950s. More than 41 percent stated they plan to dress-up in period piece costumes from different eras of the 20th century.
  • Jolly Rancher lovers will most likely sport a cape on Halloween, as 23 percent expressed a desire to channel superhuman powers as their favorite superhero.

Hershey’s invites you to visit their Celebrate Halloween with Hershey’s website, where you will find great recipes, craft and costume ideas, and even more fun stuff to help make your Halloween hauntingly fun!

Our family will be participating in a church harvest festival and we’ll also be going trick-or-treating.  There will be the usual pumpkin carving (my husband is pretty great at this!) and we also like to fix up fun treat bags for our trick-or-treaters.  My son’s costume is ready and he can hardly wait!

I’m entering a contest for a Hershey’s Halloween prize pack as a member of the Mom Bloggers Club

RecipeNut Review & Giveaway

Posted on by Mandy

If I had to show you my recipe binder, I would be very embarrassed.  Often times if I am at a social event where great food is being served, I hunt down whoever made something I loved and ask them for the recipe.  My binder is full of recipes scribbled on napkins and small pieces of paper that unfortunately have never made it to being transferred to the binder’s pages.  They’re all just shoved into my binder and I have to dig through them to find what I’m looking for.

Anyone else have this problem?

I also love to scour the Internet for great new recipes to try out for our family meals.  My computer’s bookmarks are a huge mess with all of the recipes I have saved and I still, again, have to scroll and scroll to get to what I am looking for.

Fortunately, there is hope for people like me.  And you, if this is also a little problem you might have.  RecipeNut.com, sponsored by Hormel foods, is a great new website which allows you to collect and manage your recipes, even if you find them on another site!   RecipeNut is also a social website for people who love to cook!  It enables users to identify and follow other users with similar dish, cuisine and ingredient preferences, rate and review recipes and share their favorites via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail. 

In conjunction with the site launch, RecipeNut is asking Facebook fans to share their favorite recipes and the stories behind them for a chance at nearly $2,000 in prizes.

 The contest kicks off at http://www.facebook.com/RecipeNut on September 27th and entries will be accepted through October 18th. Simply fan or “like” the page, submit a name and description of your favorite family recipe and the story behind it as well as an image of the note card or page that it’s printed on.  Ten finalists will be selected and fans can vote for or “like” the entry they think best exemplifies a truly treasured recipe. The winners will be announced on the RecipeNut Facebook page on October 25th.

I recently received a great gift package from Hormel that included a RecipeNut oven mitt, coupons, and Hormel products, which we love!  The Pepperoni Minis are so great with cheese and crackers.   They’ve also generously provided a prize package for one of my lucky readers!

GIVEAWAY:

To enter, please leave a comment on this post and tell me how you would use the RecipeNut website.  Would you organize your recipes?  Collect new recipes?  Make new friends and follow others with great recipes?  All of the above?

Deadline to enter is Sunday, October 17 at 11 PM Central.  Winner will be contacted via email, so please be sure I can get in touch with you.  U.S. Only. Void where prohibited.

BONUS ENTRIES:

After you have left a comment (see above), you can also earn up to six bonus entries!  Choose as many (or all six) of the options below as you want:

1. Subscribe to Mommy Cracked in a reader by clicking here. (Leave a comment on this post telling me you did so).

2. Subscribe to Mommy Cracked by email and confirm the subscription. This option is in the sidebar. (Leave a comment on this post telling me you did so)

3. Tweet this contest and leave a comment on this post with your link on Twitter.

4. Click here to follow me on Twitter and leave a comment on this post telling me you did so.

5. Click here to become a fan of Mommy Cracked on Facebook and leave a comment on this post telling me you did so.

6.  “Like” RecipeNut on Facebook by clicking here.  Leave a comment on this post telling me you did so.

That’s it!  Good luck!

I recieved a Hormel gift package to facilitate my review of RecipeNut.com.  All opinions are my own

Liberated by Libman! (And a Giveaway!)

Posted on by Mandy

*Raise your hand if you hate mopping as much as I do?*

Honestly, of all the household chores I do on a weekly basis, mopping the floors is my least favorite chore. Not only can it be exhausting if you have a large area of flooring that has to be mopped, it’s also one of those chores that requires prep work. You know, fill up the bucket or sink with water and cleaning solution, dunk the mop, wring it out, mop, rinse and repeat. I’ve invested in several mopping systems to help make this task easier, but buying special cleaning solutions and cleaning pads that were required to use with them seemed like a huge waste, not to mention a drain on the pocket book.

And then, I found true mop love….The Libman Freedom Spray Mop.

Yes, it’s another mop. But it’s just so much more.

The Highlights:

  • Freedom to choose any cleaning solution you want to put in: Your favorite cleaner, plain water, environmentally friendly solution etc. Removable bottle for easy filling.
     
  • Freedom from costly and wasteful disposable pads- reusable microfiber pad can be machine washed up to 50 times. Safe on all flooring surfaces.
     
  • Freedom from batteries- trigger sprayer allows you to control how much liquid is coming out
    Just grab and go, no heavy messy buckets to lug around
     
  • Quality manufactured in the USA (Arcola, IL) by a 4th generation family owned company.
     
  • Sold fully assembled in the mop and broom section of your favorite store
     
  • The Freedom Spray Mop will be available at retailers nationwide beginning August 2010 with a suggested retail price of $19.99 to $24.99.

My Thoughts:

I will admit that I was initially very skeptical about this mop.  At first glance it didn’t look any different from the ones I had tried previously, so my expectations were really low.   Once I started using the mop, I was singing a different tune.

I have two favorite things I absolutely love about this mop and the first one is this:

This little plastic bottle simply pops off and you can add any cleaning solution you want inside it. 

My second favorite thing was the cleaning pad.  It really did grab up the dirt and I never felt like I was pushing “dirty water” around all over the floor unlike some similar floor mops I have tried.  The pad was very absorbent and the best part is that all you have to do is toss it in the washing machine to clean it, which means you won’t be forever buying special (and expensive) cleaning pads.  I even washed the pad and it held up beautifully and did just as well the second time I used the mop.

The spray stream is also very powerful and far-reaching.  Some other mops I have tried had a weak stream that hardly ever made it past the cleaning pad.  That wasn’t a problem at all with the Libman mop.

I also like the fact that the mop was thin enough to make a passing sweep under our couches in the living room that has wood flooring and even under the edges of the appliances in the kitchen. 

If I had one wish, I’d only wish the mop was slightly shorter, because I am so short. Ha!  Other than that, I can’t think of a single complaint about my experience using this mop so far.  It’s made my mopping job so much easier.

Be sure and check out Libman on Facebook!  They have great promotionals and information there.

GIVEAWAY:

Thanks to Libman and Mom Bloggers Club, I’m giving away one Libman Freedom Spray Mop!  Deadline to enter is Sunday, October 17 at 11 PM Central.  Winner will be contacted via email, so please be sure I can get in touch with you.  U.S. Only. Void where prohibited.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post and tell me what chore you hate doing most around the house. 

BONUS ENTRIES:

After you have left a comment (see above), you can also earn up to five bonus entries!  Choose as many (or all five) of the options below as you want:

1. Subscribe to Mommy Cracked in a reader by clicking here. (Leave a comment on this post telling me you did so).

2. Subscribe to Mommy Cracked by email and confirm the subscription. This option is in the sidebar. (Leave a comment on this post telling me you did so)

3. Tweet this contest and leave a comment on this post with your link on Twitter.

4. Click here to follow me on Twitter and leave a comment on this post telling me you did so.

5. Click here to become a fan of Mommy Cracked on Facebook and leave a comment on this post telling me you did so.

That’s it!  Good luck!

As a reviewer for Mom Blogger’s Club, I received a free Libman Freedom Spray Mop for review purposes.  All opinions are my own.

Moving Made Easier

Posted on by Mandy

Moving can often times be a huge hassle. My husband and I have moved 3 times in 11 years of marriage (twice just to different places in town), but the packing, organizing, and the actual move itself is stressful, time consuming, and can leave you frazzled for days.

Fortunately, if you’re moving a long distance, hiring a moving company can take most of the hard work and stress off your hands to make the transition a little easier. My husband and I used a Texas moving services company to pack up our apartment and transport our household belongings back to our hometown several years ago. They were so fast and efficient that all I had to do was literally stand back out of their way and let them do their job. In a matter of mere hours, our belongings were carefully packed and on the truck headed for our new home. I was simply amazed because it seemed like we had so much stuff and packing it ourselves would have taken days. Our moving company made it absolutely painless and we couldn’t have been more pleased.

If you’re looking to make a move to or from Texas, be sure and check out your many options for moving companies. Whether you’re transitioning to Dallas and need option for Dallas moving companies or perhaps to San Antonio and need San Antonio moving companies, getting a great rate for moving services and ensuring that your belongings will be handled professionally and carefully should be the main priorities when choosing a moving company.

Coupons, Online Codes, and Deals

Posted on by Mandy

It never fails.  Every year in January, I vow to save more money on our groceries by using coupons, stockpiling, and finding the best deals.  I even swear to write down the totals of everything I spend on each shopping trip to see how I do at the end of the year.  I have the best intentions, but time keeps me from following through.

I recently found WeUseCoupons and have been amazed at the great coupon tips and tricks, free stuff, and great steals and deals posted there daily.  The forum is very active, and the people there are helpful and inspire me to do better with each trip to the grocery store.

There are also other areas of the forum to help you find online deals (great for the holidays coming up….think Black Friday and Cyber Monday!) or even hang out and chat with other members.

If you’re new to couponing, already know what you’re doing, or are just curious, pop into their forums one day and check things out.  There’s something for everyone there!

Healthy Choice Steaming Entrees

Posted on by Mandy

Healthy Choice recently launched their new line of Steaming Entrees and invites you to check them out on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HealthyChoice.   

I received two Healthy Choice Steaming Entrees to try out (Lemon Herb Chicken and Rosemary Chicken & Sweet Potatoes) and share my thoughts about.  I’ll admit that I am a frequent buyer of frozen entrees because they’re so easy to pop in the microwave at work to have for lunch.  

But first, I’d like to warn you that if you buy one of these and put it in the microwave it will make a loud squealing (or hissing) sound while it cooks.  I failed to read this on the packaging and nearly had a heart attack when it started doing that.  Of course, this is perfectly normal, but I just wasn’t used to having my food “talk”.

And here is the Lemon Herb Chicken:

Final Thoughts:

The chicken really tasted great and this was a pleasant surprise since most microwaved meats often don’t turn out so well.  The green beans were crisp and tasted fresh, as did the tomatoes and noodles.  It really was a good frozen entree.  However, it did seem like the entree was almost swimming in water, and to be fair, that was probably because of the steam.  I did cheat and add salt to my entree because I like just about all of my food seasoned with it, so I guess that probably cancelled out the “healthy” part. Overall, the taste was good and definitely worthy of a second try.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Healthy Choice and received samples of their new steaming entrées to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central also sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Lunchables Blog Tour

Posted on by Mandy

My son has never met a Lunchable he didn’t like.  We buy them on a weekly basis and he loves having them for an afternoon snack.  They’re the perfect serving size for his 5 year old hands and the Turkey with American Cheese and Oreo cookies is his favorite one.

Over the last few years, Lunchables has worked hard to improve their products by reducing overall sodium content, fat and calories by at least 20% throughout their product lines, and adding spring water and fruit to various lunches. Newly available options such as the Chicken and American Sub Sandwich as well as Chicken Strips, along with old favorites like the Deep Dish Cheese Pizza, now come with DOLE Mandarin Oranges. Lunchables provides improved lunch options with 100% white meat chicken, reduced-fat cheeese. and bread made with whole grain. And the already easy to go container now has many recyclable parts, making them a more environmentally friendly option.

We were given the opportunity to try out the new Lunchables line that now comes with these healthier options and so we tried the Ham & American Sub Lunchable, which comes with Sugar-Free Jell-O, Chewy Chips Ahoy! Cookies, spring water and Tropical Punch Kool-Aid Singles.

E.B. Says:

E.B. thought is was “so cool”  how much bigger this Lunchables kit was.  He loved the sandwich and was excited about the Jell-O.  Nearly everything was eaten, so we count that as a success because he is so picky.  We’ve made a couple of trips to the grocery store since reviewing this item and he’s asked for them each time.

Mom Says:

I was concerned that with this being a bigger Lunchable than he normally eats that much of it would be wasted.  It wasn’t, so that was good to know.  I thought the little child sized water bottle inside was really neat, perfect for smaller hands.  I was glad to see the Jell-O offered inside was Sugar-Free, but wish the drink mix (Kool-Aid in this case) could be sugar-free also.  I’ve picked up a few of these to have on hand for a quick lunch option when we are in a hurry, but will still continue to buy the smaller Lunchables for a snack option.

Overall, we were not disappointed with the new, larger Lunchables kits and still find them to be a great option for snack time.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Lunchables and received the products necessary to  facilitate my review. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me  for taking the time to participate.