Friday Favorites: Week 248 – And Halos Review & Giveaway

friday favorites

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone!  Assuming I’m looking at the calendar correctly, this is the last one of the year!  Can you believe it?

I’ve had a crazy month this week with my Etsy business, the blog, and what have you.  But I’m hoping to get everything “back on track” real soon.  Since I was busy working on last minute Etsy Christmas orders, I didn’t host a party last week, so I just couldn’t skip this week, holiday or not.  And to make up for the absense, this week’s party includes a delicious giveaway for you.  Check it out! [Read more…]

Christmas Gifts for Boys with Daisy, Plus $100 Academy Giveaway and a Free Printable

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ItsADaisy #CollectiveBias


Daisy BB Gun

Does your child spend a lot of time staring at computer screens, mobile devices, and electronic games?  Ours too!  Each day after school, Noah can hardly wait to get home to his computer (as he’s mobile gaming in the back seat).  But we also encourage him to do outdoor activities.  For example, he likes to go camping, fishing, and hunting.  And while we can’t exactly do these activities every day, going out to do some target shooting is quite do-able.  For this reason, we got Noah an early Christmas present: the Daisy 880 BB Gun. Noah is 14, so this is a very good gun for his age group.  If you want your child to spend more time outdoors too, you can encourage them and teach them about hunting or camping. Daisy has a lot of great Christmas gifts for boys and girls. [Read more…]

Holiday Gift Giving: JBL Flip 2 Portable Speakers

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GiftingAudio #CollectiveBias

Gary with Speaker

My husband is kind of hard to buy for, but I recently gave him an early Christmas present that was a big time hit!   Gary is a big music fan. every genre of music imaginable: country, bluegrass, pop, classic rock, R&B, and rap. He also listens to just about He plays a number of musical instruments, including banjo, guitar, piano, and mandoline.  And one of our favorite activities to do together is listen to music.  We often take turns picking out songs to listen to on Youtube to listen to.  And sometimes we’ll sing together, or he will get his guitar out and play along.  Needless to say, he was excited to open up his JBL Flip 2 Portable Speaker. [Read more…]

Health and Wellness Book Review and Giveaway

Health and Wellness Book Giveaway

Do you love home remedies and natural cures? If so then you will love today’s health and wellness book feature!  I recently got four books filled with recipes, tips, and inspiration for health and well being.  These are filled with tons of DIY inspiration, and they would also make great gifts if you have someone in your life who loves home cures and natural health and wellness products. [Read more…]

Must Have Fall Cleaning Tools – Review & Giveaway

Must Have Fall Cleaning Tools

This fall I’ve been sharing a number of cleaning and tools and products.  Today we can continue the series with a roundup of must have fall cleaning tools from Mr. Clean, Black & Decker, Dawn, and Evercare. And to go along with the round-up, I have a giveaway package featuring all the products you see here! [Read more…]

Halloween Cereals & Snacks from General Mills

Halloween Cereals and Snacks

 

When I was growing up, we almost always had Count Chocula at our house.  Now the Count and his friends Franken Berry and Boo-Berry are back in retro, throwback packaging.  You can find them now at your local Target store. And as if the cereals weren’t great enough, there are also snacks featuring your favorite Halloween cereal characters.  You’ll find Franken Berry and Boo-Berry Fruit Roll-ups and Count Chocula treats! [Read more…]

Party Time with Cascade and a Giveaway

This review was made possible by Double Duty Divas and Cascade. I was provided the featured product free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.

cascade party 2-2

Today I’m sharing another party, starring Cascade as the clean up crew.  For this party, we had a brunch of sorts, featuring a French Toast Bake, as well as bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, and other breakfast treats, like…

Pina Colada Smoothies

Pina Colada Smoothies
and…..
Caramel Apple Dumpling
Caramel Apple Dumplings (recipe to come)

Our guests received samples of Cascade, was well as product information and tips.

The biggest and most important tip to note……when you Cascade Platinum, NO pre-rinse is needed!  A survey found that 46% of respondents thought that skipping the pre-rinse would lead to dirtier dishes, but Cascade Platinum has an advanced triple-action formula has powerful enzymes that break down even 24-hour stuck-on food for Cascade’s best clean and shine.

I’ve definitely seen the proof of this, having used the product for the last couple of months.  Since I only run my machine two or three times a week, my dishes have plenty of time to set up and really put the product to the test.Cascade has worked great on everything from casserole dishes and crock pots to baking skillets and pans.

cascade party 2-guest

Skipping the pre-rinse not only helps your dishes to come out clean and shiny, but it also saves you time.  Here are some other tips, I shared with my guests:

1.  You can stack ’em high or stack ’em low.  Just make sure bulky items don’t block the sprayer.

2. Place tall dishes & pans in the back of the bottom rack so they don’t block the detergent chamber.

3. Check your bottom.  Place glasses and other fragile items in the top rack.  This keeps them away from the powerful sprayer under the bottom rack.

4.  Your tine to shine. Keep glasses looking great.  Set them between tines on the rack, not over them.  Wet contact points can cause spots.

5. Lock & load. Threading longer utensils through coffee mug handles can help keep them secure in the wash.

Me with Cascade

Connect: Follow Twitter and Facebook.

Cascade Prize Pack 2

 

Giveaway! One Simply Sweet Home reader will win a Cascade Prize Pack, which includes Cascade Platinum, Cascade Rinse Aid, Whisk, Sugar Sifter, Wine Pourer & Stopper.

Enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Photobucket

all OXI Review & Giveaway

All Oxi Review Giveaway

 Back to school means back to laundry, as you have extra piles of school clothes, not to mention practice clothes and uniforms from sports and other activities.  This fall I’m getting that extra laundry done with all. All Oxi com comes in both a liquid form, as well as might pacs. [Read more…]

Naturally Youthful with Mary Kay + A Giveaway

If you watched the recent Emmy Awards, you probably tuned in to see the starlettes in their lovely gowns, hair, and makeup, as much as for the award show! Some of the looks you saw on the red carpet were brought you by the folks at Mary Kay.

Here are a few examples:

At the Emmys with Mary Kay

[Read more…]

Fresh Step LightWeight Review & Giveaway

Fresh Step Giveaway

One of the latest products on the market for “cat parents” is lightweight litter.   It is an idea that is long overdue.  As a cat mommy, I like to get the best deal possible on litter, and that usually comes from buying the bigger packages, but it can be murder on your back, so I usually have to choose savings or convenience.  But now the lightweight litter option gives me another choice!  Fresh Step now has a LightWeight litter formula, and we recently tried that in our home.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with my resident kitty cat product testers, here they are: [Read more…]