Additional 40% Off Marked Down Merchandise @ Dillard's

The sale starts today, September 29, but I can't go. I'm getting antsy about this sale. I am imagining that all the good stuff is flying off the shelves.  But I haven't done a lick of housework so far this week so I don't deserve to go to the Dillard's sale.  I am cleaning today but I can't seem to get away from the computer.  If I can clean the house today, I can go to Dillard's tomorrow guilt free.

These type of sales usually ends on Sunday but sometimes they end Saturday night. Check with your local store.

Eat This, Not That! Worst Restaurant Meals for Kids

Dave Zinczenko of Men's Health magazine was on the "Today Show" discussing children's meals. You might know who Dave is from "Eat This, Not That" column and book series.

Oh my goodness. I was shocked at the calories in children's meals. It is a crying shame that restaurants put very little thought into children's nutrition. It's almost as if the children's meals are afterthoughts.

I admit that we are "those" parents that allow our children to order what they want instead of choosing the meal for them. I think when they turned 7 we let them choose. There have been many times when their food was placed before them and I noticed that the color of the food was all brown...chicken nuggets, french fries, fried foods. I think it's time that I start paying attention to what my son is ordering and nudge him in the right direction. I think I need to also think about what I'm ordering. How many times have we adults ordered appetizers and it's all brown too?


Here are the 4 meals that Dave presented. Smart Swaps.


1. On the Border  NOT THAT
Kid’s Cheese Quesadilla with Mexican Rice
1,220 calories, 75 g fat (31 g saturated), 1,930 mg sodium
CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 17.5 José Olé Shredded Steak Taquitos—that’s almost a whole box!

EAT THIS

Kid’s Mexican Plate with Crispy Chicken Taco

260 calories, 12 g fat (4 g saturated), 530 mg sodium
*Don’t forget to set a good example for the niños yourself! From tacos to tamales, here are the universal guidelines you need to Master the Mexican Menu.

2. KFC NOT THAT        (We just got Popcorn chicken this past Sunday.)

Kids Meal with Popcorn Chicken, Potato Wedges, and Pepsi

730 calories, 32 g fat (6 g saturated), 1,535 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: More than seven Eggo Chocolate Chip Waffles!

EAT THIS

Kids Meal with Grilled Chicken Drumstick, Mashed Potatoes (no gravy), and Capri Sun Roarin’ Waters Tropical Fruit Juice Drink

210 calories, 7 g fat (1.5 g saturated), 625 mg sodium

3. McDonald’s NOT THAT

Mighty Kids Meal with McDouble, Fries, and 1 percent Chocolate Milk Jug

790 calories, 33 g fat (12 g saturated, 1.5 g trans), 1,230 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 18 slices of Kraft Singles 2 percent American cheese—nearly an entire package!

EAT THIS

Happy Meal with Hamburger, Apple Dippers, and Apple Juice Box

380 calories, 9 g fat (3.5 g saturated, 0.5 g trans), 540 mg sodium

4. Cheesecake Factory 

NOT THAT 

Kids Pasta with Alfredo Sauce 

1,810 calories , 89 g saturated fat, 652 mg sodium

CALORIE EQUIVALENT: 775 Parmesan-flavored Pepperidge Farm Goldfish—that’s two bags!

EAT THIS

Kids Pasta with Marinara Sauce

510 calories, 2 g saturated, 651 mg sodium

After seeing this I decided to search other high calorie shockers.

1. The Worst Drink in America
Cold Stone Creamery Gotta Have It PB&C Shake
2,010 calories, 131 g fat (68 g saturated), 153 g sugars

More sugar than 12 Fudgsicles, as much fat as a stick and a half of butter, and more calories than 37 Oreos. Oh, it also has 3 days’ worth of saturated fat. 

Drink This Instead!
Sinless Oh Fudge Shake—Like It
490 calories, 2 g fat (2 g saturated), 110 g carbohydrates, 44 g sugars

I was really sad to see PF Changs had the worst Chinese dish. This made #7 on 30 Worst Foods in America. Even though I know it's on the worst foods list this picture makes me want order some right now. 

7. P.F. Chang’s Combo Lo Mein - 1,968 calories, 96 g fat (12 g saturated), 5,860 mg sodium

Drum roll please for the Worst Meal in America...

1. Carl’s Jr. Six Dollar Guacamole Bacon Burger with Medium Natural Cut Fries and 32-oz Coke - 1,810 calories, 92 g fat (29.5 g saturated, 2 g trans), 3,450 mg sodium

 (But it looks sooo good).

Interested in knowing good restaurants food choices? Click here for surprising healthy restaurant foods.

Lego Land Discovery Center

When I heard Lego Land Discovery Center had opened in Grapevine, TX I was very excited. My boys and I have always loved Legos and I thought it would be great fun. I assumed it would be a mini version of the Lego Land Park. Unfortunately, Disovery Center did not live up to my idea because it is more like a Chucke E. Cheese rather than an amusement park. And it is geared towards kids aproximately 9 yrs and under. Lots of play and brick building areas for young children and that's about it. There's one room that has buildings of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area (pictures below). I assume that each Discovery Center will have buildings referencing the city that it is in. This room is actually pretty cool because we had a local connection to the landmarks.

Before we bought tickets we looked at the website. The online pictures and pop-up map are deceiving because it makes it look like a huge place when actually it is very small. To give you an idea of how small it is aproximately two Discovery Centers would easily fit in a Kohl's store. The site says Rides and Attractions but there is only one ride and it was a kiddie ride.

The ticket prices vary online but walk-up prices are $19 adult, $15 children.  I do not think Discovery Center is worth the price even if I had younger children. They are overcharging for adults because all they do is watch the kids. At least at Six Flags or water parks there is something for adults to enjoy.

In all fairness this is an excellent place for young children. They also have party areas and food available.

Furthermore if you're on the search for hard-to-find Legos you might find it in the store which is at the end of the center. 

Oh, and bring lots of sanitary wipes or gel because many grubby hands are touching all the bricks.

I forced my older son to go because the other child we invited couldn't come.

Cowboy Stadium

Tailgaters outside Cowboy Stadium

downtown Grapevine

various Dallas buildings

downtown Dallas

The one and only ride at Discovery Center.

Because it was a kiddie ride there is weight limitations and we had to ride separately.

3-D presentation

Ball Park in Arlington

Sponge Bob

The lighting in the room changed from day to night to show the lighting in the building and the fireworks.

downtown courthouse

How To Create a List on Facebook

Does anyone know what all the fuss is about regarding the changes on facebook?  I haven't really experienced anything terrible...yet.  The news media made it sound like Armaggedon was arriving and I totally braced myself for some earth-shattering changes.  But as of...yet, I haven't really seen anything to make me shake my fist and say "Darn you facebook!"  I am still getting all my newsfeeds and I haven't really come across any friends that are blocked. I also haven't seen a stranger's post just because a friend commented on it. Perhaps ignorance is bliss and I should enjoy it now. 

However, I do like the new Lists feature.  This feature allows you to compile your pages or friends onto one list for quick viewing. I think this is actually a time saving feature.

Here's a tutorial on how to create a list.   I used "Restaurants and Food" as an example.
I also had to use a camera instead of screen shots because the screen shots showed too much info.

1. One the left hand column click on LISTS

2. Click on Create a List

3. Name Your List

4. Under Manage List select Add/Remove Friends

5. FB separates your friends and pages. Select your pages/friends and click Done.

6. See your new list in the column

7. Now when you click on the list it will show the newsfeed of the friends/pages you selected specficially for that list. 

Jamba Juice Coupons

I'm a big fan of coupons and an even bigger fan of smoothies.

Jamba Juice is offering coupons at both their website and facebook page.
Coupons are valid until September 27.

Today I got Berry UpBeet fruit and veggie smoothie for $2. Tomorrow I plan on getting a baked good item for $1.

http://www.jambajuice.com/
http://www.facebook.com/jambajuice

Excuse Me While I Waste More Time Pinning

This is so true. I got home from the grocery store around 9:30am and planned on cleaning the house. The computer was on and I remembered that I needed to fill out a volunteer form for my son's school. My intent was to be on the computer for 5 minutes at the most. BUT (as Pee Wee Herman says "there's always a big butt...") I got notification that someone pinned one of my items and I went to check it out. 3 hours later...I am still on the computer pinning and blogging and I as I sit here I am hoping that I at least put all the cold groceries away.  

If you don't know what Pinterest is allow me to explain. Imagine the world's largest online magazine filled with a huge assortment of subjects including fashion, makeup, style, recipes, exercise, humorous and witty quotes, crafts you plan to do, clever organization ideas, awesome photographs and art, pictures of beautiful people, ideas for your home, weddings, party ideas, etc. Like most magazines some of the pages appeal to you and your senses and you would like to dog ear the pages for future reference.

On Pinterest you get to "tear out the page" and pin it onto your own personal cork board. You can have as many different boards as you need for organization and easy reference. Now all the info that you are interested in is on one website.

I really do tear pages out of magazines and print out recipes I find online. I have so many plans of things I want to craft and food I want to make. Pinterest eliminates the paper mess. What I like most about Pinterest is that I no longer have to keep adding websites to my Favorites Bar which is already a mile long. Now when I come across a great blog or website I just add it to my "Blogs and Sites" board on Pinterest.

Pinterest also has marketing possibilities.  If you have an Etsy account or a blog that you want to drive traffic towards you can pin your own pictures to your board. You can ask family and friends to pin your items to their boards as well. If someone is interested in your product all it takes is one click of the mouse on the picture and the user is directed towards your site. An example would be a person sells hand-knitted scarves on Etsy. Their friend could "pin" pictures of the scarves onto a board called "My Style" and anyone who comes across the picture of a scarf can click on it and it automatically links to the Etsy account. Pretty cool, eh?

I call my Pinterest boards "The Boards of Good Intentions" because I know that I will not really make all the recipes and crafts that I pin and I don't have the money to buy the clothes on "My Style" board. But it is nice just thinking that someday I will.

Pinterest is a beautiful thing but they need to sell the walkstation because my butt has just gotten bigger from the hours of being on this addictive site.

Follow me on Pinterest and enter into my world where everything is pretty, but in reality everything around you needs to be washed, dusted, and organized. http://pinterest.com/craftysugargirl/
Luke, join the dark pin side and we can waste time together.
Also, let me know and I'll follow your back on Pinterest as well.
If you don't have a Pinterest account click on the red button link "Follow Me @ Pinterest" on the sideboard or log straight onto www.pinterest.com and request an invitation and you will get an invite in a few hours.

The Walkstation is the fully integrated combination of an electric height-adjustable worksurface with an exclusively engineered, low speed commercial grade treadmill. And it's the first product in the entirely new FitWork™ category of products from Details designed to bring healthy habits to sedentary workers while they are actually working
http://details-worktools.com/products/walkstation/

Crayola Art, Part II

This is our 2nd Crayola Art project. We had so much fun with the first one we wanted to do it again but this time we wanted to do it bigger and better. I wish you could see it in person because it looks so much better.

Our first crayon project was done in a mediocre fashion (blog Crayola Art) because we were unsure of what the results would be and I didn't want to waste money. We discovered that melting crayons is very entertaining. Yes, we are easily amused.

2nd project compared to 1st project.

For this project we bought the 96-count crayon box and a 24x20 canvas. Not all 96 crayons fit on the canvas.  

The day we did this project it was about 7 degrees cooler. I can't believe 7 degrees makes such a huge difference. The crayons were not melting as quickly and only the blue crayons were melting.  I was afraid by the time the other colors started melting all of the blue wax would have run off the canvas. So we used our creativity (basically saying we cheated) and melted the other crayons with a hair dryer to keep the consistency and evenness.

 I just love these brilliant colors.

Warning: make sure you have a big cardboard piece or newspaper under the canvas because a lot of wax runs off. We now have crayon mounds on our porch where it spilled over the cardboard edges. 

If you don't want to waste the beautiful wax that runs off the canvas spoon or pour the melted wax into a snow cone or plastic cup. The container has to be something you can cut open. Voila...now you have a giant crayon tip. So the next time your children complain the tip broke off their crayon give them one of these. I doubt they'll be able to break it.

The spooned wax on left isn't as smooth as the poured wax on right.

Even the spoons look like art.

No joking, this was the kids' crayon container. Someone gave it to me from a radio convention about 15 years ago. I thought it was hilarious but I had no use for it. One day when company was coming over and I was in a hurry to clean I just threw loose crayons in the can and put it aside. The kids never really colored so the can was barely seen. In all the years no child ever asked about the can to to make me question my mothering morals so it always remained the crayon can. Now in retrospect and in my wiser years I see that I should have covered the words with construction paper. Live and learn.