I don’t know about all of you, but, as a woman, I love going to get manicures and pedicures. It is relaxing every once in a while to have someone take care of my and make my fingers and toes look pretty. But sometimes things happen and you just cannot go get your nails done by someone else.
I love looking down at my fingers and toes after they are freshly polished and shiny – they are so pretty. But, of course, life happens and time runs out. Errands takes a long time, work takes longer than it should, and regular daily things need to happen – and before you know it time is up! So, there is a solution: do it yourself!
When I was younger with much more time on my hands, I used to paint my nails almost daily to match my outfit for the next day. Needless to say, I don’t have time like that anymore, but doing your nails at home, by yourself cost much less money and it is much more flexible. So, what’s missing when you do your nails yourself? The precision and the designs! How much fun is it to have a design or small illustration on your fingernails? I found Migi Nail Art that can help you make your nails look as pretty and fun as if you went to the nail salon.
So now, if you find you do not have the time to go get your nails done, you can do it yourself!

I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like bugs. Really, I hate them. I know most bugs are good and have a purpose, but I don’t want them in my house and especially not in my kitchen! I’m fanatical about wiping down the stove and counters after I cook to get rid of any crumbs that could be a bug’s dinner. I’m not obsessive about it, its just part of my routine; cook, eat, do the dishes, wipe everything down.

I guess my efforts are worth it. I’ve never had a bug problem….until the other night. I saw a large bug crawling across the floor! I did what any normal person would do and jumped as high and as far away as I could while screaming–this is a normal reaction, no? After taking care of the bug, I realized that where there is one, there are many. I ran to my computer to look up ways to keep the bugs at bay. I came across this article on eHow.com with some good tips. Most are things I already do, but its good to have a reminder. Take the trash out, keep surfaces clean, and keep food closed up. I thought about my plastic food containers, the ones that you can give to friends with leftovers and not care that you don’t get them back. They’re in pretty terrible shape these days so I’m going to replace them with Always Fresh Containers. Not only will they keep my sealed tightly to keep the bugs away, but they help food last longer. They’re naturally antibacterial to prevent the growth of mold and fungus. This should be a good addition to my bug deterrent regiment.

Do you have any good tips for keeping the bugs out of your kitchen and home?

Everyone has a pet peeve. One of my biggest ones is when I go to use the milk and there is just a sip left. Why can’t the last person who used it either finish it off and replace it or at least let you know that there is very little left? I feel like the solution is so simple. Another pet peeve is ketchup (or any condiment ) in a tiny little packet. The issues I have with food in a packet are many. You always need a handful of packets, they never tear easily, at some point (its happened to all of us) the ketchup will squirt directly at you and ruin your new shirt, and the list goes on.

Never fear, Heinz has come up with a new ketchup packet! You can read all about it here. In a nutshell, Heinz has spent years coming up with a new way to get your ketchup on your fries. The Dip and Squeeze packets have to options; tear off the top (like your classic ketchup packets but easeir) or peel off the lid and reveal a small container (like dipping sauce for nuggets) that holds three times the amount of ketchup as an old-fashioned ketchup packet! So now, while the kids are in the back eating their favorite kids meal, the most you have to worry about is whether or not the trash is getting in the car trash can car trash can or going on the floor…another pet peeve! I guess Heinz can’t solve all of my problems.

What do you think about the new ketchup packet?

If you’re a dog owner, I found a great product for you. If you like to show your dog how much you love it, then give your dog the perfect night’s sleep with the Dog Pedic Cushion.

Made of memory foam that forms to the shape of your dog, your dog will sleep great Dog Pedic Cushion. The 4” thick cushion won’t lose its shape as your dog moves off and on again. Dog Pedic reduces stress for your furry best friend with made of a heat-activated material that can help relieve muscle pain your dog may feel.

Don’t worry about making your dog sad by throwing out the Dog Pedic Cushion when it starts to smell, the Dog Pedic Cushion is machine washable. Sleep well knowing your dog is resting well too!

I came across an article on MSN a few days ago that I think contains great information for everyone. Read the 5 Foods That’ll Make You Look Younger here.

I look young for my age, but the older I get, the more and more I do appreciate being carded at bars. After reading this article I realized, however, it might be more than just my genes…I LOVE these foods that are listed. Salmon, for my whole life, has been by far one of the foods I would always eat. Leafy greens are part of my life daily – if not twice a day, and 3 times a day if I make a smoothie, I put spinach in it. The article even says that ingredients in red wine and beer can help make you look younger too! This is all very exciting.

So, my suggestion for this week: plan a look young party for next weekend. Make a guest list, invite your favorite people, blow up your inflatable bar, and come up with all different recipes using sweet potatoes, salmon, beer, red wine, citrus fruit, and leafy greens. Keep you and your friends young with some fun and some good food!

I am what some might call a Do-It-Yourself’er. I have tried my hand a few home repairs. But one thing I’ve never wanted to mess with is pipes. Any leak is generally difficult, requires a lot of specialized tools, and expensive fix. No one wants to deal with calling a plumber, a repair man, a contractor, or the expense. Now, there is Flex Seal that can help make repairing these leaks simple. Just spray it on (just like you would apply spray paint) and let it set.

The Flex Seal is a liquid rubber sealant that can repair leaky pipes, gutters, skylights, even flower pots (oh the ideas are swirling now!) just by spraying it on the surface. A quick spray of Flex Seal creates a waterproof coating to stop leaks. It is fire resistant and paintable!

So, with the help of the new Flex Seal spray, you can remedy all those little leaky problems yourself for very little money!

Last night I did something just for me. All day the only thing I wanted to do when I got home from work was change out of my work clothes, put on sweatpants and bake chocolate chip cookies. Everyone has their way of relaxing and last night my way was to bake chocolate chip cookies. I accidentally burnt one batch, so I had to chisel the burnt cookies off the sheet and throw those away. I took a look at the over crispy cookies and decided it’s about time to buy new baking sheets.

I hate the idea of buying new baking sheets. I like the ones I have, but they’re old and not exactly getting the job done. I do love to bake, and not having to throw away a dozen cookies every time I bake because the baking sheets are inconsistent when they go into the oven sounds so much better than being down 12 cookies. In lieu of getting completely new cookie sheets, I’m going to try these silicone cookie sheet liners to help keep my cookies from over browning and sticking to my cookie sheets. Here’s to perfect cookies every time!

This past Saturday I took a mid-morning walk down to my town’s farmers market. Local growers sell their produce and other goods. I go almost every weekend in the summer, but hadn’t been able to go for two weeks. I must have been feeling the need to make up for the lack of fresh produce purchases, because when I got home I realized I had way more produce than I could really use in a week or even two!

I came up with a plan to make as many things as I could with fresh veggies to freeze for the coming months. That way when I’m busy or just don’t feel like cooking, I can have a homemade, healthy meal with minimal effort. I researched new recipes for soups, stews, and vegetarian lasagna (why not?). One thing I learned is that the veggies can just be chopped and stored in freezer bags. That way I can drop the veggies into my meals as needed instead of having soggy, reheated veggies.

Let the chopping begin! I think I chopped, sliced, and julienned zucchini, squash, eggplant, carrots, and peppers for at least an hour! Not only did my hand hurt from cutting everything into uniformed tiny pieces, but I kept thinking, there has to be a tool for this! There are mandolins that will slice, but that is only one function and frankly, the risk of injury scares me. Enter the SliceOMatic! A lever operated mandolin that requires just one hand to push the lever and keeps hands away from any sharp blades. Not only does it slice but julienne as well. This would have been perfect for my veggie chopping marathon. Wish I’d had it on Saturday!

Have you ever heard something so outrageous that you just dismiss it as a false story or urban myth? I did with this story of the latest deep fried food.

Have you heard about the latest winner of the Texas State Fair? Yes, it is true, and in case you don’t believe me,) you can read all about it for yourself. So, why was I not surprised when my friend told me that deep fried bubble gum was the latest trend in fried food? Because I feel like everyone is deep frying everything anymore. Deep fried candy, Kool-Aid, Oreos, ice cream, pickles…the list goes on and on. Somehow, I have managed to not be tempted to try these outrageous foods – deep fried Oreos just doesn’t appeal to me. However, fried pickles grabbed my attention.

I love pickles. I have always loved pickles. I have heard about fried pickles but I never ate them…I don’t know why. I was finally introduced to fried pickles in which the pickles were sliced, breaded and deep fried – delicious! Then I had deep fried pickles a second time but these were whole pickles breaded and deep fried – amazing!

My love for deep fried pickles does not mean I am interested in trying everything deep fried. While many people might say “If it’s deep fried it will be delicious,” I personally wouldn’t be able to get myself to eat some of the crazy deep fried concoctions. But, if you like to experiment, you should definitely give it a try. So, break out your fryer, your scoop and strainer and get frying!

What are you going to deep fry?

Growing up in my parents’ house we always had a lot of trees in the front yard. A lot of trees means a lot of leaves and every fall one of my chores was to help rake the leaves. I wasn’t interested in raking the leaves though, I was interested in playing in the leaves! Honestly, aside from not wanting to do manual labor, I was small, the rakes were big, and it didn’t really work out. My parents did a great job though at making perfect piles of leaves for my brother and I to jump and play in. And when we were all done playing, we would take all the leaves and put them in trash bags and the lawn was done. But then only days later more leaves would fall and my parents would have to rake and we would have to bag everything up again.

I don’t think my parents mind so much about the raking. In fact, I think at one point they even bought or borrowed a leaf blower so they wouldn’t have to take so much time raking every week. But, for those of you who do have to rake as much as my parents do, you should check out the Amazing Rake. If you buy this, and you have kids, don’t tell them you are raking leaves into piles because they will be very upset when they find no piles of leaves to jump into since the Amazing Rake rakes and grips leaves to put right into those trash bags. Quick for you, and not so much fun for the kids.