Loose Button

If you are a makeup, product, and sample lover you have to check out the Luxe Box by Loose Button !  It comes once a month and if jammed packed full of goodies.  They come with different products every month including makeup, hair care products, tea or snacks, lotions or creams, perfume.  So many things can be inside and the fun is when you get to open it up and see whats inside.

Luxe Box is an exciting membership service (the first of its kind in Canada!) that allows members to try beauty products in the comfort of their own home. Members receive 4-5 hand-picked deluxe-beauty samples in a chic box every month, delivered to an address of their choice. Members also get exclusive access to beauty tips, contests, and promotions with our brand partners on a monthly basis. More importantly, we are always thinking about how to take the sampling experience to the next level, which has led to some innovative collaborations such as the Flare Luxe Box.

Make sure you check it out!  This would also make a great gift!  Here is just a sample of the brands that you can see!

Victoria Day Weekend

My mom, the kids and I went down island to the big old city of Victoria for Victoria day weekend.  Fitting I know :)  My brother and I used to go down with my Mom every Easter weekend as kids, well almost, and now my Mom and Kristina try and go every Victoria weekend.  This year, after the great Easter that ended in a separation, I thought it would be a good idea for the kids and I to all go with my Mom for a nice relaxing weekend away.

We had an amazing time, don't get me wrong, but man its exhausting being the only parent.  My Mom was great but its not the same as being with the other parent.  It was amazing, fun, and such a good time, just exhausting.  I may have fallen asleep at 9:00 the second night :)

Totally want to try making this!!

Now this is a Life Made Delicious post after all so I should get to the good old food part.  The truth of the matter is, even though we staying in my Dad's trailer, he works down there during the week, we didn't cook a single thing.  The kids had cereal for breakfast before we would go out for breakfast but not one single bit of cooking took place.  It was heaven.  All we had to decide was where to go and what to order.  Oh and we quickly realized that Brandon doesn't like to eat out three meals a day like Kristina did so much at 4.

He was great just not as quiet as she had been ;)

Now that we are home again and back into our routines we are back to some old favorites that I like to tweak a little bit for Summer time.  I am loving my meatloaf recipe right now.  Well I don't really have a recipe I basically just wing it.  A package of ground beef, an egg, some oats instead of bread crumbs, my Mom is wheat free, some onion, garlic, and some shredded veggies, the more hidden the better and some grated cheese.  I bake it at 350 degrees for about an hour.  Once its about 3/4 cooked I drain off some fat and then add the topping.  1/2 cup ketchup, a tablespoon or two of mustard and two table spoons of brown sugar, mixed well and added to the top.  My kids are asking for this all the time.  I throw together a quick Caesar salad or coleslaw, sometimes a bun and we are set!  It takes under 10 minutes to make and then we are out of the kitchen playing games until its ready!

What are your favorite recipes right now?  Check out some great BBQ recipes on Life Made Delicious!

Happy birthday Disney Junior

Can you believe that Disney Junior has been here for a year already?  I sure can't! I had a post all ready to go last week to let you know about the special episode of A Bugs Life last night but I guess I didn't post it :(  Hopefully you saw the ads for it and got a chance to watch it.  My kids were with their Dad and weren't able to watch it but I PVR'd it so we can have a nice movie night this week!  Popcorn and all :)

I don't know about you but birthdays are big fun with us.  I always like to make the entire day special.  From what you want for breakfast to lunch, activities, kind of cake and anything else we do.  They don't get to decide everything but pretty close.  Favorite meals and fun cakes, its all about making memories.  That's my new motto.  Everything we do with our kids is all about making memories.  Its not about being clean, getting the boring stuff done its all about how you do and that you make some memories along the way.

Disney Junior has some great birthday goodies on their website right now.  They have some awesome ideas for everything birthday, from cake to goodie bags.  There are some really fun games on there as well as some really cute coloring sheets you can print out.  If you are like me and like to start planning the party a few months in advance be sure to check out some of the great ideas!

Disclosure:  I’m part of the Disney Junior Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

Card Swap with a Giveaway

I would hope that by now many of you had heard of the great Canadian company out there called Card Swap.  Personally I love gift cards.  I work in retail and often tell people that its like getting two gifts!  You get the gift card when you open it, you can think about what you are going to buy and get all excited about it.  But then when you actually go to the store and pick something out, going to the till to pay for it and getting it way cheaper or even FREE!  I love that and I know my customers at work do as well!

Card Swap is a site for Canadians where you can go online and sell your gift cards, for those places that aren't anywhere near you or that you just don't like for cash.  You can also go online and buy discounted gift cards.  Its a win win. 

When you want to sell a gift card to Card Swap, you go onto their site www.cardswap.ca and enter in how much your gift card is for and it will tell you how much you will get for it. You set yourself up a Card Swap account, only takes a few minutes, and you send them your gift card.  They verify the balance, and send you a cheque out asap!

One of my favorite things about Card Swap is that on Facebook and Twitter they are always having contests.  Some of you might remember the contest we did together not to long ago.  They are always giving away gift cards so it never hurts to be a fan!  Right now if you set yourself up an account Card Swap will put $5 into your account to use towards a gift card purchase!  Just use click on the picture above and when you sign up you will receive $5 in your account to use towards your first gift card purchase!

Card Swap was kind enough to offer up a $25 gift card to one lucky winner!

To Enter:

Go to the Card Swap Facebook page and tell them that you are from Fun and Funky Mommy and what gift card you would like to win!

Additional Entries:

- add my Fun and Funky Mommy button to your blog (2 entries)

- follow me publicly (2 entries)

- subscribe to Fun and Funky Mommy

- like me on facebook (leave your first name and last initial so I can find you)

- blog about this giveaway with a link to me

- follow me on twitter @Funfunkymommy AND tweet about this giveaway for one entry (can RT daily for another entry)

***Feel free to Retweet this***

Win a $25 gift card of your choice from Card Swap @Funfunkymommy

***** Contest will end on June 20th at 8:00 PM. I will use Random.org to choose the winner. The winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Make sure that your profile is set to public or that you include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you can't win! Contest open to Canada ONLY*****

Summer is coming, come on Summer

I have been loving the weather we had the week before the long weekend.  So warm out everyday, warm enough that while on a conference call in the yard I got a wee bit of a sunburn.  Oops, I seem to do that every year.  One at the beginning of the season and then I smarten up and break out the sunscreen.  At least I only do it to myself and not the kids :)

One of my favorite things to make in the Summer is grilled sockeye, thanks to the kids Dad and my girlfriend who are all about landing all the fish we and our families can eat.  Grilled up on the BBQ with a few spices on top or some soya sauce, sweet chili sauce and honey is a delicious way to eat it.  I love to make up a nice big broccoli salad to go along side it. 

The plate is full of nice colors and is so tasty that the kids and I eat it all up.  Throw some rice or a hunk of fresh sourdough bread alongside it and its a great meal.  I love broccoli salad and usually make up a nice big one and eat it for a few days until its all gone.  I like to use the stems, I learned only a few years ago, don't laugh, that the stems taste sooooo good, I used to just throw them out :)  I like to add some seeds of some sort for some extra crunch, bacon, lots of bacon, grapes of course and you can add raisins, but I don't like those, and of course some homemade sauce.  About a cup of mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vinegar, give or take of course.

Mix and serve, delish!  Even the kids will ask for seconds!

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Umi shoes

Brandon had his first day of daycare today and he loved it!  He has been asking about it almost everyday, when can I go, how many sleeps and just hounding me ;)  He is just over 4 and so ready to be there.  He needs to make some new friends, other than his cousins, and spend some time with people other than his Mama.  He had a bit of a meltdown today at lunchtime, I think he was just really hungry but with everything going on right now he has been a bit unsteady I guess I would call it.

He can go off into a mood a lot faster than he ever used to, I think he is just unsure of a lot of things right now and needs lots of extra patience.  Today's meltdown was not wanting to put on his new Umi sandals.  They are so cute, and Brandon does like them, but when I asked him to put them on so we could go to town meltdown number one occurred.  I did get him over it quickly and off he went to daycare and he played hard in his Umi's.

If you are looking for a high quality pair of shoes for your child you really need to check out Umi.  Not only are their shoes some of the cutest and most stylish shoes I have seen for kids, they are made to last, built tough and I have never heard the kids complain about them hurting their feet or causing blisters.  You know when you and I get new shoes how we have to break them in?  Not so with Umi which is awesome because, who likes to break in new shoes?



Umi shoes start at a size infant 0-9 months and goes all the way up to a size 6 in kids!  They cover sizes for all the kids you have, until they go into adult sizes that is :)  I got Brandon the last pair in the pictures for review and they are stinking cute!  He loves them, once I convince him to put them on and then didn't want to take them off!  Check them out!

Smoothies

The kids LOVE their smoothies.  I have been working my way through the freezer full of fresh fruit that we picked last Summer and we are almost out!  Its a good thing there will more soon enough.  Smoothies make a great breakfast and a great snack.  You can put almost anything into a smoothie and they are hard to ruin!

Brandon's favorite changes from day to day.  We start with yogurt and add some juice or milk, lots of fruit and mix till its good and smooth.  Its certainly not an original recipe that's for sure but it works great for us.  One thing I like to watch is to not add to many raspberries or blackberries because then you end up with to many seeds.

My girlfriend has an amazing smoothie recipe that uses flavored tofu, like mango, with mango's and it is sooooooo good.  I am not a tofu fan but whenever she hides it in a recipe I love it every time :)   Check out some more great recipes here on Life Made Delicious!  The bottom one has Cheerios in it :)

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own!

Scentsy for Mothers Day with a Giveaway!

I had to work for Mothers Day but my Daddy and I had a delicious breakfast of homemade waffles.  It brought me back to when I was little and he would make them or pancakes for us every Sunday.  I got my amazing Mama a Grandma picture frame and a shirt from work.  She was pretty happy and I was thrilled to have my daughter come home and help my Dad make up dinner and get some pretty awesome homemade cards and a coupon book for some chores around the house and a hand massage from my daughter!

After the split with my husband it has made me cherish every moment with my kids even more than I already did.  I miss them so much when they are gone but I am just trying to spend the time I have alone, when I am not working, to focus on myself and how to make myself the best me I can be.

I will give you a bit of background if you haven't heard of Scentsy before.  Basically what they are are warmers that you put wax into the top of and when you plug them in the light bulb in the bottoms warms the wax and then the scent fills the room.  They smell amazing and are not strong scented, just nice that makes you think mmmm it smells good in here, not like uggg candles :)

Scentsy is great for helping me relax and of course will be a great piece to have in my living room.  This warmer I got for review is my third Scentsy warmer but I wouldn't dream of getting rid of the others.  They are great in any room of the house, don't burn the kids or cause fires like traditional candles and smell amazing!  There are so many great scents to choose from.

The warmer that I received this time is a new looking warmer all together.  Its a Silhouette warmer and they are gorgeous, I would love about 2 more to have around my new living room just for decoration.  With over 80 scents to choose from you are sure to fall in love with more than a few.  Right now I am loving the White Sands!

If you would like to win one of the new Scentsy Silhouette Collection Warmers and two bars for yourself or maybe as a late Mothers Day gift to your special Mom let me know why in your first entry.

Additional Entries:

- add my Fun and Funky Mommy button to your blog (2 entries)

- follow me publicly (2 entries)

- subscribe to Fun and Funky Mommy

- like me on facebook (leave your first name and last initial so I can find you)

- blog about this giveaway with a link to me

- follow me on twitter @Funfunkymommy AND tweet about this giveaway for one entry (can RT daily for another entry)

***Feel free to Retweet this***

Win a Scentsy warmer and two bars from @Funfunkymommy

***** Contest will end on June 10th at 8:00 PM. I will use Random.org to choose the winner. The winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Make sure that your profile is set to public or that you include your email in your comments because if I can't get a hold of you can't win! Contest open to Canada ONLY*****

General Mills and Oasis - great deals

So now that its just me and the kids I am couponing more and more.  I only have so much money every month and now I need it to stretch ever further.  When I can get a good deal on something I tend to stock up.  Especially when its something that we eat a lot.

The kids have cereal for breakfast almost everyday.  Both kids, and me with my Honey Nut Cheerios, so that's a lot of cereal.  I have been finding lots of great cereal coupons lately and to make it even better some cereals come with great coupons on the box.  Right now you can buy Cheerios 400g, Honey Nut Cheerios 460g, Multi Grain Cheerios 390g or Oatmeal Crisp cereal 425-505g and you will get a coupon on the box for a free Oasis smoothie 1.75l or a few other 1.75l oasis juices.



There are also coupons for the Oasis classic juice or juice boxes on Lucky Charms, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Nesquik, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Reese Puffs, French Toast Crunch, Banana Nut Cheerios, or Chocolate Cheerios! You can't get a better deal than that!

I have already picked up a few, cereal lasts forever, if you can keep the kids from eating it all, and the coupons are good for a while!  Time to hit up the store!  Check out more great offers from Life Made Delicious here!

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Doc McStuffins

We have been watching a bit less TV lately trying to get a new schedule going and fitting in everything that needs to be done.  I sure have lots of to do lists and errands going on right now.  Brandon isn't missing TV to much but he has been asking about Jake and the Neverland Pirates as well as Handy Manny.

Did you see the new show on Disney Junior Doc McStuffins?  We have and both kids loved it.  I didn't think that Kristina would be to into it because she is 9 and more into the older kids shows but she loved it.  She does still love her stuffies and playing with them.  She is in bed with 5 of them right now :)  She is still big into pretend and that's what this great new show is all about. 


Doc McStuffins is about a 6 year old girl who has created a clinic with the help of her stuffies.  Its so right up my kids alleys and I am sure lots of your kids as well.  Pretend play is so important, nowadays with all of the new electronics and so on its easier than ever for kids to detach themselves from us and the whole real world and get sucked right into video games and such.  A good show like Doc McStuffins and then off to play with their stuffies is what a lot of kids need!  Mine included!

Disclosure:  I’m part of the Disney Junior Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

Hello again

Hello my long lost followers, I have missed you all and hope that you missed me just a little :)

I have had a rough go of things the last 6 weeks and am getting back into the swing of things finally.  My husband and I have separated and things are starting to get back to the new normal around here.  The kids and I found a new place and are so excited to move in at the end of the month.  We are picking up new bits and pieces here and there and are so excited to unpack and make our new home our own.

I have lots of posts to catch up on so grab some coffee and check out whats been going on!