I’m not much of a cook, but I do enjoy baking during the holidays.  I’m looking forward to spending time in the kitchen this holiday season baking the sweet holiday treats my family loves.  Before I do, there’s one chore I have to tackle, and that’s cleaning our oven.

It amazes me how dirty the inside of an oven can get!

 

 

This is probably one of my least favorite household chores.  I don’t mind cleaning, but when faced with a baked-on nasty mess like this, it’s very discouraging.  Probably the worst kitchen oven nightmare I ever had to clean up was the time I tried this really popular Pinterest recipe that was floating around which involved a baked potato and some olive oil.  Needless to say, it turned into a huge fail.  I had no idea how bad olive oil could smell and make such a big, caked on mess.  I was pretty sure my oven would never be the same again.

 

 

Fortunately, I knew back then exactly what works on a tough mess like that.  I’ve always trusted EASY-OFF® oven cleaner to do all of the tough work involved in cleaning my oven.  My favorite EASY-OFF® product is the EASY-OFF® Fume Free Oven Cleaner, which penetrates tough baked-on oven grease to effectively clean with no nasty fumes. It leaves your oven with a fresh, lemon scent and can also be used for daily spot cleaning.  All you have to do is spray it on and let it work in for a couple of hours.  You can see below how it immediately starts working.

 

 

After I let the cleaner work its magic for about 2 hours, I just opened the oven door back up and wiped it all down with a wet cloth.  The greasy mess just wiped right off and I never had to scrub!  I must say, that looks much, much better!

 

 

Does your oven need a little extra  help?  EASY-OFF® Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner is specially formulated to penetrate tough baked-on grease and food spills. It effectively cleans warm or cold ovens in as little as 5 minutes! 

With EASY-OFF®, you don’t have to fear the holiday clean up.  So, go ahead and cook and bake up a storm!  When it’s time to clean the oven, EASY-OFF®  will make that job much faster and easier!

I received Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches and compensation in return for this post.  Thoughts are my own.

One of the biggest decisions I have to make each evening is deciding what’s for dinner.  It shouldn’t be too hard, but a few nights out of the week, it’s just my son and I, and cooking a big meal that only one of us will eat just isn’t worth it.  He is extremely picky, so it’s difficult finding things we can both agree on.  Add in a couple of long work days and a scout meeting to each week and by the time we make it home, we need something fast and easy.  Families are always on the move, and with Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches, you can fill them up without slowing them down.  Mini Chicken Sandwiches are made with 100% all white meat chicken and they’re the perfect way to fill your kids up! 

I’m personally a huge fan of Tyson because I already trust the quality of their products in our home already, so I was anxious to see if the Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwiches lived up to my expectations.  I was impressed with how fast they are to prepare. 

So how do they actually taste?  Delicious!  These are perfect for a quick meal or even a quick snack.  Even better, my son loves them, so there’s one mealtime battle conquered!  These will now be a regular product in our home.

There’s a Tyson Mini Chicken Sandwich for everyone.  These great little sandwiches come in the following varieties:

Mini Chicken Sandwiches
Mini Chicken Sandwiches with Cheese
Mini Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Bacon Cheddar Cheese
Mini Grilled Chicken Sandwich Buffalo Style
BBQ Mini Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Tyson Minis can be purchased at the following retailers:  Wakefern, Wegmans, Hyvee, Kroger, Giant Eagle, Target, Price Chopper, Weis, Ahold, Delhaize, Winn Dixie, Harris Teeter, Safeway, Supervalu, Publix, Meijer, HEB, Ingles, and Walmart.

I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Brother P-touch. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and promotional item as a thank you for participating.

I couldn’t wait to get out our Christmas décor while I was off work during the Thanksgiving holidays and start decorating.  We always put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving, and since I never got around to really decorating like I wanted to for the fall season, this was my chance to make up for that.  It’s not that I didn’t want to do it up for fall and  Thanksgiving, it’s just that once I was ready to decorate I noticed I was missing several items.  My Thanksgiving placemats were nowhere to be found and I was also missing a couple of smaller decorative items.  Of course I was stumped, because these are usually all there together.  I finally just decided to buy some more placemats and made do with fewer decorations.

Well, I ended up finding those missing things.

Doesn’t everyone store their Thanksgiving and fall décor mixed in with their Christmas decorations?  Apparently I was in such a rush last year that I just put the Thanksgiving things in the tub that stored some of our Christmas things and never bothered to separate them once we took our tree down.  So, when my husband got all of our Christmas décor out of storage, I made sure this time to separate things out the way they should be stored and having the Brother P-touch PT-H100 label maker made it very easy to accomplish this.

Since our storage tubs had seen better days, we started by purchasing a couple of new ones.  Then I broke out the label maker and went to town labeling these bins to make it easier on ourselves next year.  It was so easy to just type in what I needed and have it print out perfectly and immediately.

I’m glad to know that I’ll know exactly where to look for all of our holiday décor next year.  It’s still not too late to get yourself organized this holiday season!  To celebrate their 25th Anniversary, Brother P-touch will have special promotions and deals at office super stores and other retail partners, so be sure to check them out.

 

I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Cardstore. I received complimentary cards and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

If you still haven’t made out your holiday cards, don’t panic!  It’s one of those things on my holiday to-do list that I am chronically late in accomplishing.  Once I realize I haven’t actually done our Christmas cards, I send myself into panic mode choosing them, addressing them, and actually getting them all sent off.  Each year, I swear to myself I will always do better, but I never do.  This time of the year is always so busy at home, work, and at school that I find myself right back in the same situation as the years before.

I’m proud to say it’s not happening this year!  Thanks to Cardstore, all of my cards are signed, sealed, and about to be delivered and I couldn’t be more thrilled or satisfied with them.  Cardstore is an innovative online resource that removes the hassle from mailing out holiday cards. Once you create your custom cards with personalized pictures, messages, and signature, Cardstore will print, stamp and send the cards for you – helping to take one huge item off your already full holiday to-do list.  To see how easy it is was for me to create our Christmas cards this year, check out my experience using Cardstore for the first time.

I ultimately decided I wanted to see a family picture for our card this year, so for my sample card, I chose this:

The paper quality was excellent.  I literally received my card two days after I ordered it.  I couldn’t believe how fast the turnaround time for that was!  I am so pleased with our card and I know our friends and family will be also.

Cardstore wants you to be able to own the top of the mantel this holiday season by sending beautiful and thoughtful seasons greetings to friends and family members.   Whether making everyone’s favorite recipe, picking the best “Secret Santa” gift, or choosing the holiday card everyone looks forward to receiving, there is always a little bit of friendly competition during the holiday season.  Cardstore holiday cards will give your holiday card that extra special something that will definitely make it memorable to everyone who receives one.

So, head on over to http://po.st/PersonalizeYourCard, personalize your own holiday card, and have one of your holiday tasks crossed off your list in a matter of minutes!  In order to ensure delivery by Christmas Eve, you will need to place your holiday card order with Cardstore by December 16.

GIVEAWAY

Mom Central and Cardstore are currently running a great giveaway on the MC Facebook page, with chances to win ten (10) $50 Amex Gift Cards and one (1) grand prize of a $300 Amex Gift Card! Enter here!