Usually the boys come over to watch some form of sport and what could possibly go better with that than a few hot dogs.    The other nice part about Ball Park Franks is that you won’t have to break the bank when you have a group of hungry men in the house. 

Great taste and great price=Happy Guys

Of course there are times that even if I am not invited to be a part of the evening, I am still in charge of the menu.  It’s those occasions that I like to put a fun little spin on the traditional hot dog. 

Here is one of my favorite go to recipes for giving hot dogs a special twist.

Ball Park Hot Dogs wrapped in Bacon

This recipe is incredibly easy and delicious.  I know some of you are thinking delicious and incredibly bad for you.  However, I believe sometimes it’s okay to splurge for a night.  Also, if you use turkey bacon, it cuts down on the fat and calories.

Take the hot dog and wrap a single piece of bacon around it.  You can use toothpicks broken in half to secure the bacon.  Then place the hot dog in a skillet and cook it until the bacon is done.

If you like spicy foods like I do, then you can put jalapenos inside the bacon as you secure it.

Once the hot dog has been cooked, you place it inside the bun and eat it up!  It is sure to be a hit with your guests.

BTW, I recently googled recipes for hot dogs and found one I can’t wait to try for the next get together as an appetizer.  You can find it at allrecipes.com.  It is called Corn dog muffins and they look delicious!

Do you have a favorite way to change up a regular hot dog for something fun and different?  Either way, you can’t go wrong with a Ball Park Frank!

“This is a sponsored post.  Ball Park product and additional incentives were provided to me.  All opinions stated are my own.”

Investing in things like Botox or Restylane are a few options for combating the visible signs of aging.  However not everyone wants to go to such extreme measures to maintain their appearance.  With proper skincare and nutrition keeping your youthful glow doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

Because of my age, I use skin products designed for maturing skin.  As the years pass, I notice my skin becoming more dry and fine lines and wrinkles are becoming more noticeable around my eyes.  I have even begun to notice deeper wrinkles forming around my smile lines and forehead.

If you are a night owl like I find myself to be, then you have probably seen infomercials for the product, Meaningful Beauty by Cindy Crawford.  I was asked to give Meaningful Beauty a try for a four week trial period to see the effects it has on my skin.

The package I received contained five products:

• Skin Softening Cleanser
• Antioxidant Day Creme SPF 20 UVA/UVB
• Creme de Serum
• Lifting Eye Creme-Advanced Formula
• Skin Brightening Decollete and Neck Treatment SPF 15

There were also two bonus trial sized products:

• Glowing Serum
• Glycolic Treatment Pads

The product I am most looking forward to learning more about is the Creme de Serum.  I like the appearance of the product and from the included materials, it sounds like it has a lot to offer aging skin.

Along with the kit I received, I was also given an additional kit to share with someone “meaningful” in my life.  Who could be more meaningful to me than my mother?  If anyone deserves to feel and look beautiful, it is her.

I will be using the Meaningful Beauty products exclusively over the next four weeks.  After that time, I will give you an honest account of my thoughts on the skincare line and how well or not so well they worked on my skin.

Have you ever tried Meaningful Beauty by Cindy Crawford?  How did your skin respond to the skincare regimen?

I wrote this review while participating in a test drive campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf Meaningful Beauty and received a 5-step treatment kit to facilitate my review, a second 5-step treatment kit to giveaway, and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

As a parent, there isn’t much that I dislike more than seeing one of my children when they are sick.  The red, watery eyes and runny nose break my heart every time.  So why am I not doing everything possible to prevent the illness to begin with?

Since I know that the winter months are the worst for catching a cold/flu, I have decided to begin to prepare a cold, cough and flu kit to keep on hand during these times.  In the past, the only things I really did to try and prevent colds was washing our hands more often and drinking orange juice.  They are things that we currently do on a regular basis, so it isn’t much of a change for us.  However, I know there is so much more I could be doing to keep us all well.

This weekend I visited my local Safeway store.  You can see my shopping experience as I prepare to create my cold, cough and flu kit here.  The pharmacy area has a pamphlet called, “Be Well. Save Well.”  The pamphlet is full of healthy tips on how to keep your immune system functioning at full force for the cold and flu season.  It also has several coupons for products that they recommend adding to your home.

PRODUCTS FOR YOUR COLD, COUGH AND FLU KIT

The first is probably something you already have in your home, 100% #FloridaOJ!  It is something that most people enjoy drinking, especially with breakfast and it is packed full of the vitamins your body needs for warding of the yuckies.  I love that several orange juices now have additional vitamins like calcium and vitamin D in addition to the normal vitamin C.  The “Be Well. Save Well.” pamphlet has a coupon for the 89oz. carton of orange juice.

Drinking orange juice daily is definitely something that my kids enjoy.  It is a great way to provide them with something good for their body without having to fight them to get it down.

Fill your fridge or pantry with produce.  Adding vegetables to your daily meals provides your family with many of the nutrients and antioxidants that are beneficial to your body.  It’s a great way to help support your immune system.

Keep Kleenex on hand for the start of any runny noses.  I don’t know about your kids, but if mine don’t have tissues readily available, they will use anything they can find.  Keeping boxes of tissue around the house helps to cut down on the spreading of germs.

Take a multivitamin daily to help ensure that your body is getting all the vitamins it needs regularly.

Use disinfecting wipes to clean up around the house.  This is a must for your cold, cough and flu kit.  Making sure to keep things sanitized frequently helps to cut down on the germs that cause sickness.  I have my kids trained to wipe down the shopping carts for me now that they offer the wipes in stores.

Those are just a few products that are great to keep around your home during the cold and flu season.  Of course doing things like exercising, getting the right amount of sleep and managing your stress are equally if not more important for your body.  Unfortunately, I can’t put those into a kit, they have to be done all on our own.

I don’t know how things go in your home, but if one of us gets sick, the whole house gets sick.  The best way to keep us all well is to never let the cycle get started.  Why didn’t I think of a cold, cough and flu kit sooner??

What types of things do you do in your home to prevent illness during the flu season?

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  All opinions are 100% my own.

The Morning

Waking up late and getting that little bit of extra sleep can sometimes make you feel better. But the chances are that the extra half an hour in bed won’t compensate for the lack of breakfast.

No one really knows if breakfast is the most important part of the day. But what we do know is that it can fuel your engine for the first few hours. Not only will this make it easy to cope with the morning commute, it will also get you in gear to start working the right way.

Supplements

If you find yourself needing the extra sleep and are rushed in the mornings then vitamin supplements are a quick and easy solution. Making toast can take time, but a simple drink and a pill only takes a few seconds.

The right supplement for you depends on your health. Some people will need omega 3 supplements, such as krill oil, where others will need a D complex. Either way, taking a supplement in the morning is a great way to start the day.

Walking

A lot of people don’t have the privilege of living close to work, or even a subway stop, so alternative modes of transport are needed. Despite that, the chances are that the main way of getting to work is the method with the least effort.

Instead of taking the bus to the subway why not try a walk? Of course, the times it takes to get there will need to be taken into account. But if it’s under half an hour, the exercise will help with waking you up and making you feel better.

The Smaller Things

There are also the small alternatives we ignore from time to time. They’re always challenging to find but when you make the change it feels like there was never an alternative.

For example, instead of using an escalator try taking the stairs. Not only is this the healthier option but it will usually be quicker. Most people will choose the lazy option and the chances are that a blockage will occur. By taking the stairs you can go at your own pace and might even catch the train while other people are left behind a crowd of commuters.

Another smaller detail is the activities for sitting on a long journey. It can far too easy to keep looking at our Facebook page, refreshing every few minutes hoping that a friend posts an update. The reality is that nothing changes and we find ourselves wasting time. Instead, try reading a book or catching up on the news. It’s great for you mental health and there’s still plenty of time to read Facebook when you get home.

Despite a couple of small activities to complete, every journey is different. Try to think of new ways to improve your daily routine by making it healthier and more satisfying.  When you find your new routine becoming stale, there’s no reason why you can’t change it again. By creating a better daily routine we create a better way of life.

Author Bio 

Sandra Goldstein is an Outreach Manager and health expert at Everest Nutrition. She has written a number of articles on using supplements to promote a healthy lifestyle and highlights krill oil as being her favourite. In her spare time Sandra likes to read, watch bad reality TV and annoy her cat.

My poor little girl has the small bumps on both of her arms that never go away and both children complain each night at bedtime about how their skin itches.  It always makes me so sad for them.  Unfortunately, it is so hard to fight when you live in such dry weather.

I am constantly purchasing new lotions and bath products in the hopes of finding the perfect combination that can soothe their skin.  Neosporin Essentials is one of the newest products I tried on my babies.

Neosporin Essentials is a new line that consists of three products, a Daily Moisturizing Cream, a Daily Body Wash, and an Anti-Itch Cream. 

The first day that I used the Daily Body Wash on my kids, my son said it smelled like sunscreen.  I am not sure what ingredient made it smell that way, but I could see why he thought that.  The body wash moisturizes while you use it, helping to keep your skin from drying out.

The body wash did not foam and it seemed like a little bit went a long way on the skin.

The Daily Moisturizing Cream was a nice consistency.  I applied it nightly to my kiddos skin as they got out of the bath tub.  It is steroid free, a skin protectant and contains colloidal oatmeal.  According to the company, it is supposed to visibly restore skin to a healthier state within three days.  I can definitely say that the cream helped my children’s skin to not itch as much, but the bumps on my daughters arms did not change.

The last product was the Anti-Itch Cream from  Neosporin Essentials.  It is great for times when you or your children are having a eczema flare-up.  It acts as an almost instant relief from discomfort associated with eczema.  While my children don’t suffer from flaky skin, the product is supposed to help with that as well.

Overall, the Neosporin Essentials did a nice job of managing the discomfort my children feel from itching and dryness associated with eczema.  It was nice to not have them itching and fussing as much throughout the day.  I cannot attest to how well it would work on someone with severe eczema, but for mild eczema or even severe dry skin, I think the product is worth giving a trying.

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Neosporin Essentials and received a trial product sample to facilitate my review, and a promotional item to thank me for participating.”

Think about it, unless you are allergic to cats, what is the worst part about having one as a pet?  For me, that is a resounding, “The Litterbox.”   

When we first adopted our kitty cats a little over a year ago, I did a lot of experimenting with different types of litter.  It didn’t take me long to figure out what brand worked best for us, Arm & Hammer.

Arm & Hammer Multi-Cats clumping litter has been my go to litter for at least the past year.  I found through trial and error that it worked best for odor and ease of scooping.  It was also convenient to locate in stores and cost effective.  All of those were the most important factors when I was searching for the perfect brand.

I was recently told that Arm & Hammer had introduced a new litter to stores called Ultra Last.  There was only one thing that could make me even happier with my choice and that would be longer odor protection.  I was sent a coupon by mail to try the new product for free, so I picked up a box.

The first thing I noticed about the Ultra Last litter was it had a slightly different coloring than the Multi-Cats litter.  The Ultra Last litter is baking soda coated, which I guess is what accounted for the color difference.  

The real test didn’t begin until my cats used the litter box for the first time after changing litters.  The funny thing about my cat Mitz is that anytime he hears me change the litter, he comes running.  It’s like he has a thing with being the first to get his feet in the fresh litter.  Don’t ask me?

With having two cats, I scoop the litter box usually once a day.  Although, I will say that sometimes I wait as long as two days.  I was very impressed with the odor control of the Ultra Last in comparison to the Multi-Cats.  It wasn’t a huge difference, but enough to notice a change.  All the other components of the Ultra Last litter lived up to the Arm & Hammer name as well.

Having kitty fur babies is something I wouldn’t trade for the world, but the odor of a smelly litter box I can definitely live without.  Thanks to Arm & Hammer Ultra Last, I’m a little closer to achieving that goal.  Now if I could just hire someone to scoop my litter box for me as well.  Hey, I can dream….

You can purchase the new Arm & Hammer Ultra Last litter at your local Walmart and/or Target stores.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf Arm & Hammer and received a product coupon to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

photo from http://www.flickr.com/people/elea/

Last night I went on a date night with my husband for the first time in too long.  He had planned a special date for Valentine’s Day.

I decided to dress up nice and fancy in a pretty new dress I had been saving for a special occasion.  I also wore a pair of tall wedge shoes that were open toed and not the best choice for winter conditions.  However, I felt beautiful, unlike the woman he normally sees wearing sweatpants on a daily basis. 

As we were walking towards the movie theater, a younger couple walked by.  As they passed, the girl made a one word comment.  She said, “Seriously!”.   However, it was the tone of the word that struck me.

That one word took away the joy I was feeling in that moment.  Instead of feeling beautiful, I was left feeling stupid for my bad choice of shoes for the evening.

I realize that it was silly for me to let a complete stranger change anything about how I felt, but unfortunately I did.  What can I say, I have skin about as thick as a stretched out latex balloon.

As we drove home, I thought to myself  two things:

1.  I am really going to work on feeling more secure within myself.  After all, at 40 years old it’s time I realize that only I can allow someone to make me feel a certain way.

2.  Before I speak, I will think about how my words will affect someone else.   I want to be the one that brings happiness to those around me.

Words are a gift that are meant to be shared with one another.  Wouldn’t it be nice if they were used more often for that purpose.

I found a lot of truth in his words and hope to apply some of them in my personal relationship.  See what you guys think….

You can find Jeff’s book for purchase at Amazon.com.

Mindful Meditation in Relationships

Relationships aren’t destroyed by cataclysmic arguments. They are eroded by the little things that happen over time. We’re all excited when a relationship starts. We watch what we do. We edit our actions and mind our words. We gloss over the details because we love the dream of what could be. We sacrifice the now for what we want in the future.

As our relationship grows, we get comfortable. We stop editing ourselves and return to our old habits. Sarcasm drips back into our words. Those little side comments and the not so subtle glances that we once held back are now tossed out without a thought. It’s not that we no longer love, it’s just that we are not quite as careful of our actions, and neither is your husband, wife, partner or lover.

Trust that your partner will support you and respect you is eroded by the little comments that seem to slide out without a thought. Respect is eroded through the forgetful actions that make you feel as if you don’t matter like you once did. Yes, relationships usually end in a cataclysmic fight, but that is not where they are torn apart.

This is exactly why just a little bit of meditation can be such an important tool in maintaining a healthy relationship. It will not make you magically love each other more, but it will make you both mindful of the little things that can undermine a relationship, so that you can start taking an active part in your life, rather than watching it unravel from the sidelines as if you had no say in it. Also, that means you can start living the life you love, with the person you want to love in it.

The little things that you start to pick up on, and that your partner picks up on just as quickly, don’t seem important enough to bring to your partner’s attention, but they still chip away at you. Even worse, they don’t go away. They layer up, little by little, until one day you wake up feeling not so special anymore. Then you do what we all do. You lash out. Usually at some seemingly unrelated issue that acts as a release valve for how you’ve been feeling.

We all do this. It’s part of human nature. It’s in our wiring. We hold onto the little things until they become a big issue. We wait until enough comments and asides build up before we register it as important enough to do something about it. By then we’re not discussing the little issues at hand, but everything that has ever been said in the past.

Without even thinking those little comments are able to elevate a remark about how a friend acted last night, into an all-out attack on everything that has ever been wrong in your relationship. Remark by remark you both escalate until the two of you are at each other’s throats without knowing why. You stop discussing facts and start responding to whatever out of our innate desire to be on top. You stop talking and start trying to get the last word in. It’s no longer about understanding. It’s about winning. And that is the opposite of what love is about.

Meditation is the key to breaking this cycle. It will give you both the grounding you need to stop acting out of self-preservation and instinct, so that you can both start acting out of the love and compassion, with consideration of what you have, rather than what your internal wiring tells you to do, which is to get the last word no matter what.

Now, when I say meditation, I don’t mean that you have to sit in contemplation for half a day before you speak to each other. Nor do you have to burn incense before having a conversation. Just by committing to meditate on your own for a few minutes a day is a start down the right path. That alone will reduce the general level of your stress that you both bring into your relationship. The less stress you have, the less defensive you become. So that when you start a conversation with someone you are passionate about, or on a topic that you know is touchy, you are no longer going in with your guard up, but from a point of love and understanding.

Let’s face it. We all go into situations that we know are touchy with a preconceived notion of how it will turn out. We tend to create movies in our own heads about how the discussion will go before a word is even spoken. More than likely you’ve both probably run through endless scripts about on how something will end up before it’s even started. By taking a brief meditation break before you start a discussion about what you know could be a tense subject, you will have taken the first step to turning that home movie off and letting your life unroll all by itself, in the here and now, without your old issues from the past or preconceived notions of the future running the show.

Meditation is not a cure-all. It will not turn your relationship into a bed of roses. But it will help you to be aware of what you have. It will help you turn off your automatic responses so that you can act out of love rather than habit. So don’t be afraid to stop the argument before it happens. Don’t wait to take a few deep breaths and casually point out the little things before they get out of hand, so that you can stay in a place of calm abiding again and again and again. After all, that is what a lasting relationship is all about.

One of our favorite things to do when enough snow falls is make snow ice cream.  I first learned about snow ice cream from one of my friends blogs, Raisingmy5sons.com.  Since we started making it a couple of years back, the kids ask for it any time there is any snow accumulation on the ground.

We have played around with the different ways to make it and here is what we have found works best for us.  Let me know if you have a different way of making it in your home.

Snow Ice Cream

Scooping the snow

Take a large bowl and a measuring cup to the newly fallen snow.  This is very important if you have animals like we do.  Even more important is staying away from any yellow snow you may find

Ingredients used for Snow Ice Cream

We scoop snow into the bowl until it is full.  Sorry, I don’t do exact measurements in anything I make.  I am an add to taste kind of gal.

Snow with Sweetened Condensed Milk added

Next we bring the bowl back inside and open a small can of condensed sweetened milk.  We pour roughly half of the condensed sweetened milk into the bowl and stir. 

We always make two bowls thus the red bowl in the next picture

Depending on the size of your bowl, you may need more or less of the condensed milk.  We also add a small amount of fat free milk to smooth the ice cream out a little.  Don’t add too much or you will find yourself back out in the snow getting more.  The good news is if the snow is falling good that day, you won’t have to worry about running out of the main ingredient. (and it’s free)

Add vanilla

Once you have the snow ice cream the consistancy you want it, you add vanilla flavoring to taste.  Usually it is right around a teaspoon and a half.  Again it will depend on how big of a bowl you use.  If you want yours a little sweeter, you can add a small amount of sugar, but it is optional.

Since we don’t do an exact recipe, it turns out a little different each time.  The one thing that never changes however is the joy we have in making it together.  That’s what it’s really all about anyway.

I promise that this ice cream will be as tasty as any you can purchase from a store and a lot less expensive and fun.

Of course, be sure to add any of your favorite toppings to make it extra special.  It is the perfect way to spend a great snow day with the kiddos.  Enjoy!

One of my favorite homemade meals to prepare is soup, especially during the colder months.  I usually try to make it at least twice a week.  Sometimes I am not even sure what the final outcome will be when I start throwing things into the pot.  It’s one of the reasons I love cooking; getting to make new creations.

As much as I enjoy cooking, I have come to accept that there are times I can’t squeeze a homemade meal into the day.  It doesn’t matter if you have children or not, there are just times that don’t allow for cooking a meal from scratch.  On those particular days, it is still important for me to have some kind of meal on the table when dinnertime comes around.

Recently, I had one of those days where I needed something quick for dinner.  It was the perfect time to pull my Bertolli Meal Soups out of my freezer.

The Bertolli Meal Soups come in four different varieties, they are Chicken Minestrone, Roasted  Chicken & Rotini Pasta, Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken, and Tuscan-Style Beef with Vegetables.  I selected the two that I hoped my family would most enjoy, Roasted Chicken & Rotini Pasta and Tuscan-Style Beef with Vegetables.

The instructions on the package were as simple as empty contents into saucepan and add one cup of water.  I couldn’t be happier with how simple the meal was to make.  Since the Bertolli Meal Soup packages are designed to feed two people, I made both packages to make sure I had enough to go around.

The first thing I noticed as I served the soup into our bowls was the consistency of the broth.  It was very rich, unlike soup out of a can.  The other immediate difference was the look of the vegetables in the Bertolli Meal Soup.  It was full of things like zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms and carrots.  They looked as if they had been added fresh, which I am assuming is part of being flash frozen.

The only ingredient that didn’t add up for me was the meat in the Tuscan-Style Beef.  What can I say, there is nothing that tastes as good as a frest cut of meat. 

I heard no complaints from my family as they finished their meals.  Bertolli Meal Soup is definitely something I will keep on hand in the freezer for those times when homemade isn’t an option.

 If you would like to try Bertolli Meal Soup, you can find it in your grocer’s freezer section.  Follow Bertolli on Twitter to learn more about their products.

I was compensated by Bertolli to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge.