Gluten Free Boxed Mixes

Went GLUTEN FREE!

More and more the Gluten Free label is popping up all over the grocery stores. Here are some Gluten free products I've tried ...

The hardest part is no longer being able to satisfy my bread cravings. It's been hard (with a few set backs) but I'm still not ready to leave bread behind. Next best thing, make my own Gluten free bread. This is a first in making my own bread as well as trying out a Gluten free approach. How was it?

Product : Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix

Store : Whole Foods

Cost : Around $5.

Taste : Not quite similiar to the white bread I'm used to but the difference is so slight you might not even notice.

Texture : Not quite similiar to the white bread I'm used to but the difference is so slight you might not even notice.

Product : Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Cake Mix

Store : Target

Cost : Between $3-$4.

Taste : a little different but not noticable with frosting. My kids didn't notice any difference.

Texture : The same. The batter was fluffier like mouse. Made the cupcake spooning experience cleanier and easier. I did notice that the batter didn't rise much. For someone who always tends to over fill the cupcakes ... luvd this.

Product : Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Cookie Mix

Store : Target

Cost : Between $3-$4.

Taste : Yummy! Just like a chocolate chip cookie should taste.

Texture : A little grainy and crispier.

My First Moo Cards

Luv them!! The quality is amazing. The cards are thick and extremely sturdy. I bought the smallest pack, 50 cards. I choose to do 4 designs, if you wanted you could do 50 different designs! You can upload your own images, choose from their design gallery, or use their Text-o-matic feature (like I did above).

Moo offer business cards, mini cards, postcards and greeting cards.

Interested but not sure. Try Moo for free. Moo offers sample packs. 10 free business cards. Try it out here ... link.

Earth Hour 2010 - Lights Out

Earth Hour, March 27th 8:30pm-9:30pm.

On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations. (via)

Toggle the light switch below as the video is playing. See what happens ...

A New Obsession With Resa Blatman's Paintings

While reading my daily blogs, I spotted something so amazingly inspiring that I had to share. Paper Schmaper featured the brilliant artist Resa Blatman. It's love at first sight.

Apple IPad

Do I need this? No. Can I afford this? Probably not. Will my life change with it? Probably not. Do I want this? Yes, maybe ... hmmm ... it just looks so cool.

Win A Free Kindle

I just entered a contest to win a free Kindle from Noobie (worth $259!) and I wanted you to have a chance to win one too!
All you need to do to enter is to click the link below or copy and paste it into your favorite Internet browser:
http://www.noobie.com/kindle-giveaway?ref=1557471766
Be sure to read the email you get from Noobie after you register. You'll get your own unique link that you can use to earn even more entries in the drawing!

Glee: "Bust A Move"

I think I have a crush on Mr.Shuester ...

GLEE: “Bust a Move” @ Yahoo! Video

Glee Fever

My new favorite show! My household is hooked. If you are unfamiliar with Glee, here's a little peak ...

Glee - Don't Stop Believe
by Bugabookas

A Little Etsy Love :: The StarShine Company

This was my first time buying incense from The StarShine Company. The scents are lovely! You can definitely tell the difference between cheap incense and The StarShine Company's high quality. They burn for up to 45 minutes. Each incense is freshly made to your order. Some scents can take up to 5 days to soak, allow about 5-7 days before shipping. I still found the incense to arrive fast.

They have over 500 scents to choose from. I purchased the variety pack: Choco-Love, Cherry Blossom, Lime Leaf & Lilly, Baby's Breath and Good Fortune. My favorite is a cross between Good Fortune and Choco-Love.

Finally Some Shelves

I was gifted with these beautiful shelves (one not pictured). I finally have all my books in one place. My craft and sewing books, printing books, fun reads, sewing magazines, hair style books ... all together with room for more!

Paul Mitchell Sweetness

Went to a hair show over this past weekend. Any Shear Genius fans out there? Anthony Morrison, winner of season 1(?), is an educator for Joico. I was able to see him live!

Along with all the products I came home with, I couldn't resist these lovely Paul Mitchell shirts. I always come home with a PM shirt, every show! I just can't resist them.




Pictures via.

A Treat In The Mail

Thanks to Crow and Canary's giveaway, I was one of the lucky ones to receive this cute card from Owen Says. I even enjoyed the envelope it was sent in.

Stationary and Elephant Poo?!

Took the boys to Discovery Kingdom Six Flags (old Marine World) ... look what I found in the gift shop ... It's a line of stationary made from recycled elephant poo. Genius.

Troy Lounging in the Kimono Pjs

Here's my nephew posing in the Kimono Style Pjs I made. He looks so adorable! Grandma made the booties, which matched perfectly.

BBC Book Meme

Found this at Carina's Craftblog.

So apparently, the BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions (if you want to play): Look at the list and put an 'X' after those you have read once. Enter a number for the number of times you read something. (Make sure you delete my X's!) When you've finished put your total at the bottom.OK, fellow bookworms, let's fight dirty!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen -

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien -x

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling -x (to many times to count)

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee -x2

6 The Bible - x (went to a private school, we were always reading the bible)

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte x (at least 3-4 times)

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell -

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens -

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott -x2

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare -

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien -

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger x

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell -

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald -

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams -

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll -x

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame -

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens -

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis -x (at least 2)

34 Emma - Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis -x (at least 2)

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne -

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell -

42 The Da Vinci Code -

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving -

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood -

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding -x

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen -

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zifon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens -

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon -

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck- x

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas -

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding -

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville -

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens -

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker -

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnet

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante -

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens -x

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker -x

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro -

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White- x

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery -

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas -

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare -x2

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factoy - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo -

TOTAL :: 15 out of 100

Cake Balls :: Yum!

Made these cake balls for my son's 4th birthday.

Used ::

• red velvet cake mix
• cream cheese already made frosting
• chocolate melts from Michael's
  

Recipe can be found at Bakerella.

Bag Tag

I saw this bag tag on My Moments and thought I’d play. Here are the rules for the tag:

1. Post a picture of whatever bag you are using today - not last weekend when you and your hubby went out to that fabulous restaurant. No cheating!!!
2. Tell us how much it cost. This is a no-judgment zone — there will be no ridiculing or eye rolling here. And, if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, tell us.

I purchased this Mossimo bag from my favorite store, Target ...$16.99. No story behind it. I fell in love with the yellow. I walked in for diapers and milk, stepped out with a really cute bag.

My First Moop Bag

My first Moop bag! It's just as lovely in person as in pictures. Sturdy, very well crafted. It's perfect when I take my boys for walks and to the park. The pouch fits my Iphone and headphones. There's even a spot to hook your keys. I do worry that the back of the inside snap might scratch my screen. Easily fixable, just turn the phone around.

My only complaint is that it takes over 2 weeks to make! Every bag is made on order. Moop's policy is to expect at least a 2 week wait. Once I placed my order, I didn't receive a convo until 2 weeks, saying it was going to take another week! I would have liked to receive this convo when my order was placed, not once I was expecting it to come in the mail.

Yes these bags are beautifully made, but a 2-3 week wait is the only thing that might discourage my return. Just remember if you do plan to order a Moop bag (for a gift or special occasion), order about 3 weeks earlier than needed. This company is very popular and in high demand.

What's In a Name

This is a lot of fun! I saw this on Natasha's blog Hanies. Please play along too!

Your Real Name: Tina

Witness Protection Name:(mother and fathers middle names) Virginia Noel

Secret Spy Name: (your first name spelled backwards) Anit

Nascar Name: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad) Arnold Alfred

Detective Name:(favorite color, favorite animal) Green Dog

Soap Opera Name:(middle name, county where you were born) Carmen San Francisco

Super Hero Name: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning) The Blue Arizona

Fly Name:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name) Tine

Street Name:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie) Rocky Road Chocolate Chip

Rock Star: (current pet, current street) Koa Royal Ann

Porn Name: (1st pet, street you grew up on) Alika Porter

Your Gansta Name:(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle) Tinizzle

Your Goth Name:(black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Keana

Stripper Name: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav. candy) Creme Bouquet Chocolate

99 Things :: Come Play Along

Saw this here, and thought I'd play along ...

Here are the rules: Bold the things you’ve done and post on your blog!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo- does in the shower count?
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating -fish
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee-right on my @ss