Archives for 2011

Kroger Cart Buster Savings Event and Giveaway

Have you heard? The Cart Buster Savings Event is back at the Kroger Co. Family of Stores. It began July 31st with storewide savings in almost every department! During the savings event, summer deals are just getting started. Browse the aisles and load up your cart with everyday items from brands you already love.

From July 31st through August 17th save on tons of brands across more than 100 categories from General Mills, PepsiCo, Unilever, Heinz, Mars, Wrigley and Kimberly Clark.

Look for some of your favorite participating products like, Honey Nut Cheerios, Yoplait , Pillsbury Pepsi, Doritos, Gatorade, Smart Ones, Ore-Ida, Cottonelle, Viva, Breyer´s Ice Cream, Axe , Snickers, Pedigree and Orbit.
The Kroger Family of Stores includes Kroger, Ralphs, King Scoopers, City Market, Dillons, Smith´s, Fry´s, QFC, Baker´s, Owen´s, Jay C Food Stores, Hilander, Gerbes, Food4Less, Fred Meyer, Pay Less Supermarkets and Scott´s food & Pharmacy.
Don´t let the savings stop there! Make sure to follow the Cartbuster “Deal of the Day” beginning August 3rd and running through August 16th. You can download exclusive offers, on more of your favorite brands, directly to your shopper card, by visiting CartBuster.com.
Remember, Cart Buster is your link to all of the details, savings and the special “Deal of the Day” offers for the Cart Buster Savings Event, exclusively at the Kroger Co. Family of Stores. The Cart Buster Savings event begins July 31st and “Deal of the Day” offers begin August 3rd.


Connect: Check out Kroger on Facebook and Twitter.

Win it! One Simply Sweet Home reader will win a $25 Kroger Gift Card.

Mandatory Entry:  To win, please use the Rafflecopter form below.



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Disclosure: The Kroger gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by Kroger and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Chocolate Mousse

With this current heat wave, you can’t have enough cool, no bake desserts!  The other day I made this super yummy chocolate mousse!  It’s perfect if you’re hungry for something rich and chocolately but you’re not in the mood to cook!  Enjoy!


Recipe for Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients:
1 (14 oz.) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup cold water
1 (4-serving size) package Chocolate instant pudding mix
1 (8 oz.) container frozen light whipped topping, thawed
Oreos (or other cookies to garnish with)
Directions: Whisk sweetened condensed milk and water in large bowl. Add pudding mix. Whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. Chill 5 minutes.  Fold in whipped topping. Spoon into serving dishes. Chill. Garnish as desired. 

This post is sponsored by The Trendy Boutique.  The place for trendy, fun, and affordable shopping!  Check out everything they have to offer from watches to photo jewelry and hand stamped jewelry.  And even design your very own flip flops and hand bags!  Find all the accessories you need  for summer and back to school!

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I’m linking up at Tidy Mom and these parties.

My New Blog Makeover

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I am thrilled to announce the launch of Simply Sweet Home’s new look. I loved the design I had before; it had become like an old friend, and I was actually sort of sad to see it go.  But I was ready for a little change of scenery. And I hope you guys like it!
And what’s even cooler is that I designed and installed everything myself. Me! (Yeah! I’m still a little surprised myself!)  This was my very first time to do a full redesign by myself. (Up till now, I’d only made a couple of buttons and basic graphics.)  Anyway, I’m really happy with the way it turned out, and I hope to do a lot more design stuff in the future. (Maybe even do some design work for other bloggers!!)

While I’m here talking about the new look, I wanted to mention a couple of changes and additions I made. First off, I added a section in the sidebar for my Top Blog Referrals.  Each month I’ll be sharing a little linky love by listing the blogs that I got the most referrals from.

And I also tried to clean up the sidebars a bit, particularly the section with the blog feature buttons. And by the way, if I’ve been featured on your blog and I don’t have your button, please let me know.  I always try to grab featured buttons to show my appreciation to fellow bloggers, but if I’m not notified about the feature, I often miss it, so if you’re button is missing, just drop me a line!
Also, speaking of buttons, I should tell you that if you have my Friday Favorites button or Featured button on your site, these should update without you having to do anything.  But if you have the Simply Sweet Home button, you’ll have to grab the new code.  The reason for this is that I didn’t make the previous SSH button, and I wasn’t aware (or I forgot) that the button code was still “pulling” from the photobucket account of my previous designer and not mine. (oops!) So anyway, I had no choice but to change the code on that.

Okay. Woo! Sorry to blab, just wanted to mention those few changes.  And I’ve also some other things in the works to tell you about, but I’ll save those for another day!

Hope you all have a nice week!

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I’m linking up at Tidy Mom and these parties.

Friday Favorites – Week 75

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Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by for Friday Favorites.  
Before I get to this week’s features, I wanted to tell you about an event that one of our blog friends is putting on and how you can participate.  Anne at The Saturday Evening Pot is hosting a 100-Day Countdown To Christmas, and she’s looking for bloggers to guest post with recipes, food-related crafts, and DIY projects. I’ll be contributing a post or two the event, and I was hoping that some of you might contribute as well.  Check out this post for more details.
Also, I’m attempting to do more guests posts and blog swaps in the future. As of now, I’ve only done a couple of these, and I want to do more.  I just need a little push I think! So if anyone would like to do a blog swap with me, please contact me by email and we’ll set something up!


Now on with the party!

Photograph Tiles from Midwestern Sewing Girl

Donut Muffins from Creative Kitchen

Mickey Pops from Dip it In Chocolate

Near Death by Chocolate from That Skinny Chick Can Bake

This week’s party is sponsored by Cutie Patootie Creations. Why settle for the same “cookie cutter” party invites, when you can have something custom created for you?  Cutie Patooties has unique invitations in a variety of fun styles and themes.  And they have all the matching decorations and supplies you need to get your party on! Check out Cutie Patootie Creations today, and get started planning your perfect party!

Thanks for stopping by for the party! Link up below!

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Free Freschetta By The Slice

Do you love pizza? How about Free Pizza?  Then you’ll be very excited to learn about the Free Freschetta By The Slice Event.



Here are the event details:

Date – August 4th, 2011
What – FREE* FRESCHETTA® By The Slice pizza event
Where – From the comfort of your own home
FRESCHETTA® will be giving away thousands of slices of their delicious By The Slice pizza during this special live online event. The FRESCHETTA® By The Slice pizza will be given away in 5,000 increments every half hour. There will also be fun, interactive contests where you can win additional coupons.

For more information and to log on to the event, visit .

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Disclosure: I am a Freschetta Fresh Connection Blogger. I was not compensated to write this post, and the opinions are my own.

Baby Gift Giveaway from Kalos Candy

Today I’m very excited to introduce you to Kalos Candy, a super sweet etsy shop that offers the most adorable baby gifts! To me, baby stuff is already very cute, but I absolutely love it when people take the seemingly ordinary baby gifts (onesies, washcloths, blankets, etc.)  and present them in a creative way, which is exactly what Kalos Candy does.

Kalos Candy is owned by Lori in Texas. The name Kalos Candy comes from the special bond she has with her sister and niece. KA is for her niece Kaley. LO is for Lori, and S is for Shannon, Lori’s sister.
Lori is also part time nanny, and aside from making cute things for Kalos Candy, she also designs clothing for a children’s wear company in San Antonio.

The stuff at Kalos Candy is so cute, that the packaging and the presentation itself makes an adorable gift (so cute you almost hate to use the onesies and washcloths).  But all the moms-to-be will definitely want to use them because all of the items are made from high quality, name brand products like Gerber and Carter’s.

The items and Kalos Candy are also very reasonably priced, and she offers a lot of different packages, so you’re bound to find something to fit your gift giving needs and your budget.



Buy it! Pick up something for the little ones and mommies-to-be in your life at Kalos Candy

Connect: Like Kalos Candy on Facebook.


Win it!  Today I’m excited to say that Lori is giving away The Gray to one of my readers (see photos above).  The neutral yellow/white package is a $30 value and  includes the following:
  • 2 Name Brand Onesies
  • 3 Gerber Spoons
  • 6 Washcloths
How to Enter:  To win this prize, you’ll need to use the Rafflecopter form below.

*Note – I made a mistake on the “Leave a comment” entry option on the form. The mistake has now been corrected. Entries received before the correction will still be counted. Thanks!*



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Johnsonville No Ordinary Burger Review and Giveaway

The burger got a makeover, and pork lovers are celebrating!  I’m referring to new Johnsonville Bratwurst Patties and Johnsonville Italian Sausage Patties.  I love the summer grilling season, so I was really happy when I got the chance to try one of these great products.

I made the Italian Sausage Patties over the weekend.  I’ve always associated sausage patties with breakfast, but these made a really great dinner!  Since it’s super hot outside, we kind of cheated and cooked them on the stove top, but they were just as delicious!
I was very pleased with the ease of preparation (from freezer to plate in 20 minutes) and the size of the patties (1/3 lb each).  And my husband and I loved the spicy flavor!

Build your best burger using Johnsonville Brat or Italian Sausage Patties, and you could win a year’s worth of groceries from WalMart in the “No Ordinary Burger Recipe Contest,” sponsored by the National Pork Board and Johnsonville Sausage.
Now through September 6, log on to the Contest Page to submit your recipe and vote for your favorite pork burger. Two grand prize winners will be awarded a year’s worth of groceries from Walmart and have their recipes featured on Johnsonville Brat and Italian Sausage Patty boxes.
Check out the  Contest Rules for more information.  Also, follow Johnsonville on Facebook to receive their latest updates.
Win it!  Two Simply Sweet Home Readers will win 5 full value coupons for Johnsonville Brat or Italian Sausage Burgers.  Each coupon is worth up to $7.98 for a value of up to $39.90 for each winner.

*Note – I made a mistake on the “Leave a comment” entry option on the form.  The mistake has now been corrected. Entries received before the correction will still be counted. Thanks!*


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Disclosure: This review and giveaway is brought to you by One2One Network and the National Pork Board. I received a Full Value Coupon and other grilling items for review purposes. The opinions are my own.

I’m linking up at Tidy Mom and these parties.

Friday Favorites – Week 74

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I’m running late tonight, but I made it! Thanks for stopping by for the party. Don’t forget to enter my Christmas in July giveaway (after you link up, of course!) You could win a fabulous blog redesign and a gift certificate to Celebrating Home. Yay!
This post is sponsored by The Trendy Boutique.  The place for trendy, fun, and affordable shopping!  Check out everything they have to offer from watches to photo jewelry and hand stamped jewelry.  And even design your very own flip flops and hand bags!  Find all the accessories you need  for summer and back to school!

Hope you enjoy our fantastic features for this week:

Makeup Table Makeover from The Decorative Paintbrush

Mango Orange Blossom Popsicles from Gluten Free A-Z Blog

“Nest” Chair Redo from Upcycling My Very Ordinary Life

Join the party! Link up your posts below!

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Bedroom Makeover

I recently did a slight revamp in our bedroom….nothing fancy, just a new bedspread and curtains.  I love the bedspread that we had, but we’ve been using for a while, and I thought the room could use a splash of color.

Here’s a before picture:

And here’s the after:

And here’s a closeup of the bedspread: green with red/pink and white/tan flowers.

What do you think?

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I’m linking up at Tidy Mom and these parties.

Snickers Caramel Shake

I was in the mood for a sweet treat the other day.  Sadly there were no cakes and cookies on hand. (I hate it when that happens!)  But we did have a little ice cream in the freezer, so this is what I decided to make.  Hope you enjoy!

Recipe for Snickers Caramel Shake:

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk
6 Fun Size Snickers
Caramel Syrup (I just poured some in.)
Directions:  Place Snickers in blender and chop for a few seconds, until the candy bars are in tiny bits.  Add icecream, milk, and caramel.  Blend.  Pour into glass and serve.  Top with additional snickers bits if desired.

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I’m linking up at these parties and TidyMom.