As we close out 2012 I am thinking ahead to 2013. We hope this year will bring many great memories for our family and yours. 2013 will bring Jake turning 4 and starting school! We will hopefully be out of this house and in a new one (not sure where yet, but we are excited to find it). And Jamie and I are planning our first trip to Germany to visit our good friend Brian and his wife Eva.
Happy New Year!
Recently I noticed that I can view the stats of my blog. It’s actually really cool to see how people find your blog or where they are located throughout the world. Oh yeah, my blog is global!
When I first log in I can see my blogs and under shell-zone it says there are over 8,300 page views. I’ve been at this for 4 years which is over 2000 views per year and over 6 views per day!
Now I only have 8 followers and my Mom two of them. So why are so many people looking at my blog? When you click on the number of page views it will bring up an overview. You can view this by day, week, month, year or all time. Below is my all-time views and here I can see which posts are most popular, the top three sites where people find my blog and the world-wide audience.
You can expand the posts, traffic sources and audience to see more of the detail. The posts gives you the top 10 posts. The traffic sources will break it down by Referring URLs, Referring Sites and Search Keywords.
The audience tells you where in the world people are viewing your blog. The US is the highest but it’s fun to see countries such as Australia, India and China on the list.
One of my favorite stats was the keywords that people search and then arrive at my blog. I’m actually shocked that someone searched for Hiny Hiders and I hope the person that searched for eggies instructions decided not to buy those eggies after my review.
I don’t like cleaning the house. I mean who really does? But the one chore that I don’t mind is mopping the floor. I remember having to do this at my parents house and they had a squeeze mop which was kind of fun to use.
Since then, mop manufacturers have come up with easier and faster options for cleaning the floor. I bought a Swiffer Wet Jet a few years ago and this does work faster, but I would not say it is better. Perhaps if you use it every other day it would keep up with the deeper dirt. But being that I hate cleaning, I only use it once a week.
We have a white laminate floor and it has this grey hue to it. We have a squeeze mop just like my parents had and I use it about once a month to try and get it more clean, but I’m not sure it really does much better than the Swiffer. I’ve even tried different floor cleaner and a homemade one I found on Pinterest.
The only time I felt I got a great clean was when I went Snow White style and got down on my hands and knees with a scrub brush, but who’s going to do that every time? Not me!
Jamie saw the Shark Steam Pocket Mop and almost bought it for me for Christmas. But being the smart husband he is, he decided that would not be an appropriate gift and instead told me about it. So we looked into it online and found the best deal at Walmart. It was originally $69.00 but it is on sale for $39 + tax, free shipping site-to-store. We bought model number S3501WMZ.
This mop only uses water, no cleaning solutions. It heats up the water and steam cleans the floor. This one comes with two cleaning pads that are machine washable.
Here’s the floor after sweeping:
Here’s the floor after the Swiffer and you can see how dirty the cleaning pad is. Yuck!
Here’s the floor after using the Steam Pocket Mop:
You can see that the steam mop was able to pick up even more dirt which I’m not surprised by. The floor is definitely whiter, but not as much as I would like. I think this will take a couple more times before we can really see a great difference.
It says it works on all floor types, including wood. I’m a bit surprised since I assume water and wood are not compatible. It does say that the floor must be sealed. If any of my family or friends want to try it on their wood floors just ask and you can borrow mine and check it out.
Here are some pros and cons from my first use:
Pros: easy to assemble, water reservoir easy to fill, light weight, adjustable height (perfect for my husband which is a foot taller than me), long cord.
Cons: took a while to create really good steam and doesn’t really glide along the floor (it’s a bit of an arm workout).
So far it’s a keeper, but I haven’t washed the pad yet. It will be interesting to see how they hold up in the wash.
This summer I received a Keurig for my birthday. I started drinking coffee when I moved over half an hour from work and I needed something to help along the drive. To get used to the flavor I started by using half hot chocolate half coffee and every week or so I would add less hot chocolate until I could accept the coffee on it’s own (black).
Jamie likes to drink White Russian coffee which has no alcohol, but rather just has a hint of the smell and flavor. He will drink the entire pot and would often be disagreeable if I took a cup to work. I hate the coffee at work so I was thrilled to receive the Keurig. I keep it in my office and it makes it smell wonderful.
I own the Elite 40 model which is perfect for me. I can fill up the reservoir and it will last all week if I keep it to one cup a day. Work recently installed a 5-filter system to our drinking water and it causes absolutely no residue in the reservoir which will help it last longer.
The unit comes with a variety of coffee, but most of it I knew I wouldn’t like. I don’t like bold flavors or most teas, so I searched for a variety pack I could try. I found on Amazon.com a vendor that will let you pick your own variety of 30 k-cups. This was perfect and I picked out 30 different flavored coffee, chai tea, hot chocolate and cappuccinos. Here is my list and my reviews on the flavors.
1. Folgers Caramel Drizzle: bad
2. Folgers Vanilla Biscotti: good – smooth and mild flavor
3. Gloria Jean's French Vanilla Supreme: ok, a little tangy, not as smooth as #2
4. Gloria Jean's Mudslide: eh, tastes like coffee
5. Donut House Chocolate Glazed Donut: good – smooth w/hint of choc, smells great
6. GMC Donut House Cinnamon Roll: eh, no good
7. Green Mountain Caramel Vanilla Cream: good – smooth with medium flavor
8. Green Mountain French Vanilla: ok – a little tangy, better with FV creamer
9. Timothy's Cinnamon Pastry: very cinnamonny, makes it taste too bitter
10. Timothy's French Vanilla: bad
11. Timothy's German Chocolate Cake: too bitter
12. Timothy's Irish Cream: no
13. Timothy's Mocha Java: missing
14. Van Houtte Belgian Chocolate: eh
15. Van Houtte French Vanilla: a little bitter
16. Van Houtte Mocha Java: no
17. Van Houtte Napoletano: no
18. Van Houtte Raspberry Chocolate Truffle: good, can taste raspberry flavor
19. Wolfgang Puck Creme Caramel: boring
20. Wolfgang Puck Francais Vanilla: ok
21. Wolfgang Puck Jamaica Me Crazy: good, a hint of coconut
22. Cafe Escapes Chai Latte: Great!
23. Celestial Seasonings India Spice Chai Tea: More like hot tea w/hint of chai
24. Cafe Escapes Milk Hot Chocolate: gave to Kim and she really like it
25. Cafe Escapes Dark Hot Chocolate: ok
26. Cafe Escapes Cafe Mocha (½ choc&coffee): ok, but more like hot chocolate w/o ½ coffee
27. Grove Square Spiced Apple Cider: good cider
28. Grove Square Caramel Apple Cider: good, can taste the caramel
29. Grove Square Caramel Cappuccino: Good, but not as good as the FV
30. Grove Square French Vanilla Cappuccino: YUM!!!
I tasted all of these without any creamer or sugar to make sure I got a good taste. From this variety I decided to stock up on the Folgers Vanilla Biscotti, Café Escapes Chai Latte, Grove Square French Vanilla Cappuccino and another not on the list which is Green Mountain Spicy Eggnog which is a flavored coffee.
I had found a recipe for one ingredient ice cream. All you need is bananas, that’s it! No salt or ice cream machine required for this. To start you slice a couple bananas and put them in the freezer for about an hour. Once they are frozen you add them to a food processor or blender.
I only have a 4 cup mini-prep processor but we love this thing. We use it all the time for chopping and blending. I decided to add peanut butter and cocoa powder to my ice cream but it’s up to you want you want.
As you blend the frozen bananas they start to thaw and become creamy. That is when I added the peanut butter and cocoa.
It definitely has a banana flavor so if you don’t like bananas you probably wouldn’t like this too much. But it has the same consistency of ice cream and I love that it’s more healthy than store bought ice cream and super easy to make!
I always have bananas in the house. They are an easy fruit to eat and take with you on the go. When Jake was starting solids I enjoyed the ease of feeding him a banana, but of course he couldn’t eat an entire one. I would sometimes help him out, but I wished I could keep it for later.
While browsing the stores I came across the Nana Saver. You cut a banana in half and then place the Nana Saver on the cut end which would keep the end from getting all brown and gross.
I used it for a while but it never really worked like it was supposed to. But it was only a couple bucks so it wasn’t a huge disappointment.
Recently with all the Banana Yogurt Smoothies I’ve been making I use many bananas. Sometimes it’s hard to find small bananas and I have to cut them in half or thirds and since I lost the Nana Saver (or more likely threw it away) I found a better way to save my bananas.
I learned that all you need to do is cut the banana with a sharp knife. Yes, the end will get all brown and gross, but it creates a natural barrier for the rest of the banana.
I’m not sure how long it takes for it to get like this, but this is a day after cutting.
This layer is actually quite thin and you only need to cut a small layer away to get back to the good stuff. So there is no need to buy a banana keeper or throw out a perfectly good banana if you only want part of it.
Have you heard of Once A Month Cooking? It’s where you gather everything you need for a month worth of meals, make them all in one weekend and then freeze them to eat all month. It’s all the rave and there are quite a few blogs about it.
http://once-a-monthcooking.com/
There’s even a book on it if you are inclined to read more about it.
Now I don’t partake in this event. I don’t cook dinner every night, or even once a week. I cook dinner once a month, maybe twice if I have to. You see, my husband likes to cook and if he wants a good meal he knows he should make it himself. It’s not that I don’t know how to cook, I would just rather eat it than make it. I mean why spend all that time chopping and sautéing and cooking and seasoning and then only spend 10 minutes enjoying it?
Don’t think that I get off too easy. I do heat up leftovers and make vegetables for a side dish most nights. If I didn’t all we would have for dinner is meat and potatoes and maybe some bread. I will admit that I am horrible at making garlic bread. I burn it Every… Single… Time… And if you still think I have it made with a husband that cooks, we do have a rule in our house:
“Whoever doesn’t cook the meal has to clean up the meal and all the preparation dishes too.”
Recently though, I came across a recipe on Pinterest that I decided to make one night. If you ever check my Food board on Pinterest you will not find much there (at least not for dinner). So here’s a meal that I made last month and I think it turned out well.
Chicken Crescent Roll Casserole
adapted from Recipezaar.com
2 (8 ounce) cans Pillsbury Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup, undiluted
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese or swiss cheese
1/2 cup milk
Filling
4 ounces cream cheese (very soft)
2 tablespoons butter (very soft but not melted)
1/2-1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tsp minced onion flakes
2 large cooked chicken breasts, finely chopped
1/2-3/4 cup finely grated cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper (or to taste)
2 Tbsp. milk
1-2 cup grated cheddar cheese (for topping)
Set oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x13 dish with cooking spray. Mix together milk, 3/4 cup cheese and undiluted chicken soup (can season with black pepper if desired).
For the filling --- in a bowl, mix the soft cream cheese with butter until very smooth, then add in garlic powder. Add in the chopped chicken, onion and cheddar cheese; mix well until combined. Add in 2 tablespoons milk; mix to combine (add in a little more if the mixture seems too dry). Season with seasoned salt or white and black pepper to taste. Unroll the crescent rolls.
Place 1 heaping tablespoon chicken mixture (or a little more) on top of each crescent triangle, then roll up starting at the thicker end. Drizzle a small amount of soup mixture on the bottom of the dish. Then place the crescent rolls seam-side down on top of the creamed mixture in the casserole.
Drizzle the remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with 1 cup (or more) grated cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes.
http://www.recipezaar.com/Kittencals-Chicken-or-Turkey-Crescent-Roll-Casserole-78814
Not too shabby if I do say so myself!
