The need to be Organized

Cubbie from Pottery Barn

It seems every year around the beginning of August I am thinking about home organization. Not sure if its the long days of summer that give me plenty of sunlight to see my home in its frazzled state or if its always right after my birthday and I am full of ideas for change.

I have declared the first week of August in my house organize week! I will be sorting my stuff to keep, sell or donate. I want to get some labels and those clear shoe boxes to have the stuff I do need organized. My son and I were painting and I did not realize how much great stuff he has for art time that we dont use simply because I did not know it was there. 

I will start with my office, then the closet and finish in the kitchen. I have dreamy thoughts of perfect organization fueled by Pinterest but if I can just know where stuff is that will be great!

One blogger I am reading more of is Organize with Sandy. Click on her Organize Your Home tab for great tips. I found a great Organize Pinterest Board on her account with over 1200 pins to the board. I will be going through it as I clean and organize this week looking for ideas.

I would love this for my entry. Bench and Mirror from Crate&Barrel

I will be busy as a bee cleaning this week. 

If you have any organizing tips, especially for kids toys I would love to hear them.

Dr. Seuss's Deluxe Edition Cat in the Hat DVD + Blu-Ray Review and Giveaway

We are Dr. Seuss fans in my house. I love Hop on Pop, Green Eggs and Ham and my favorite Cat in the Hat. The classic cartoons that I saw as a kid have now been fully remastered on Blu-Ray and DVD. They look great! I love being able to share these cute and silly cartoons with my son.

Warner Home Video’s deluxe edition of “Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat” will be in stores August 7, 2012. The sing a long part will be great for the future as my son learns to read. I play it for him now so he can see words go along with the singing. (that and so I can know the words right to sing along with him lol)

DVD Summary:

While their mother is out on a shopping errand, Dick and Sally are stuck indoors on a dull, rainy day, with nothing to do. Their dreary afternoon, however takes an unexpected turn when they’re paid a visit by a charismatic, six-foot tall, hat-wearing cat, who invites himself in to search for his misplaced “moss-covered, three-handled family gredunza.”

Employing the “Calculatus Eliminatus” method, the children help the Cat in the Hat look for his missing keepsake but in the process, leave the house in a mess. Mr. Krinkelbein, the family’s wise pet goldfish, who in effort to look out for the kids’ best interest, protests the Cat in the Hat’s shenanigans and orders him to leave. The Cat in the Hat however, preoccupied with finding his missing “gredunza,” enlists the help of his best friends, Thing One and Thing Two, to help with the search but the pair only manage to bring the house into further disarray.   

Unfazed by the chaos that’s slowly unfolding around them, Dick and Sally are captivated by the Cat in the Hat and his madcap, whimsical ways. They pass the afternoon in sheer delight, singing happy songs and engaging in playful mayhem with their uninvited guest. Even the cynical Mr. Krinkelbein is won over by the Cat’s infectious charm. Everyone is having way too much fun to notice the house is a complete mess! That’s until Dick and Sally hear their mother coming home. How in the world will they clean up the enormous mess before she walks through the front door?

Cat and Fish, two things my son loves to talk about.

Cat in the Hat is a classic story I love sharing with my son. He loves the books and is too young for the real action movie so this is a perfect way to share Dr. Seuss with him. Our favorite part is where Cat in the Hat says who he is in different languages, Spanish, French, German and Eskimo. Makes me and my son both giggle. " I am a Katze in a Hut" for German, you have to hear it on the movie for it to sound right. 

We are hosting a giveaway for a copy of Dr. Seuss's Deluxe Edition Cat in the Hat DVD + Blu-Ray for one of our lucky readers to win.


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* I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free to review on my blog. I was not paid for this post or giveaway.  I am disclosing this in accordance With the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

Tropical Fruit Coconut Pizza Recipe with Dole and Safeway

Getting my son to consistently eat anything is a challenge. He will love something all week then tell me "yucky" the next week when I give him the same thing. I have found I need to be creative in serving him the same items in a different way. Fruit is one of my favorite things, even my mom knows green grapes will cheer me up any day! My son is a bit more picky about the fruit he eats. He seems to like berries, pineapples and bananas. Thankfully they are all healthy for him. I have been finding new recipes online looking for ways to give my son the fruit servings he needs but in new fun ways.

We get the Sunday paper every week for the coupons, being a frugal mom I love to save money. I think even if I won the lotto I would still use coupons! Who does not like to save money right?!? lol

I found a great coupon for Dole Tropical Canned Fruit that had a recipe on the coupon insert. I often make meals or desserts from recipes I find in coupon inserts. Its easy to have the ingredients list and coupon all on one paper. The Dole coupon had a recipe for Tropical Coconut Pizza. I was intrigued by the pizza part, my first thought was classic pizza, but then I read the recipe to realize it would be a creamy fluffy dessert pizza.

We went shopping at Safeway for the ingredients for our dessert for later in the week. We made plans for a few friends to come over and play video games and I thought it would be the perfect time to share my Tropical Coconut Pizza. I like shopping at Safeway for the Just for U savings that I can combined with my paper coupons. I save a lot of money shopping at Safeway and they always have friendly checkers.

We needed a few other items at the store along with the ingredients. I even grabbed a product new to me, Dole Aguas Frescas Watermelon. There was a $1 off coupon and on sale for $2. Awesome to get a juice with no HFCS in it for just a dollar!

A few days later I made the Dole Tropical Pizza for my family and friends. I started the Pizza Crust part of the recipe in the morning so it could freeze for a few hours. 

Tropical Coconut Pizza

Freeze: 4 hr.

Prep: 20 min.

1 container (8 oz.) cream cheese with pineapple, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup thawed whipped topping
1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted
1 can (15.25 oz.) DOLE® Tropical Fruit, drained
1 cup sliced DOLE Strawberries
1 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced

Makes: 8 servings

Beat cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in whipped topping and coconut.

Line baking sheet with waxed paper. Spread cream cheese mixture into 8-inch circle, on
baking sheet, building up sides slightly with back of spoon. Freeze 4 hours or until firm.

Place cream cheese crust on serving plate. Garnish crust with additional toasted coconut, if
desired. Arrange tropical fruit, strawberries and kiwi on crust. Serve immediately.

Set out the Cream Cheese for about 30 minutes before you plan to make this recipe to make it easier to mix with the pineapple. The recipe from Dole calls for Cream Cheese with Pineapple. I could not find any in my local store so I purchased plain cream cheese and added 3/4 cup drained Dole crushed pineapple. I toasted my coconut in the oven on 250 degrees on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes. (make sure to check it often to not burn it.) I also set out the whipped topping from the freezer on the counter for the 15 minutes while I was toasting the coconut.

 After mixing the pineapple, cream cheese and sugar I folded in the whipped topping with the toasted coconut. I love coconut and pineapple together. SO good! (just this mix alone with the Dole pineapple would be delicious for putting between some cookies and freezing them.YUM!)

 The recipe says to put the mix out on a cookie sheet to place in the freezer. For my recipe I used two pie tins. To be able to create a nice tall crust for my pizza and my cookie sheet was too big for the space I had in my freezer.

This little guy was keeping me busy while I waited for the tropical pizza crust to be ready. He makes a soft pile with pillows, blankets and stuffed animals everyday. Hes like a little animal!

I placed them into the freezer to wait the 4 hours. While I was waiting I cleaned the house in preparation for a few friends coming over to play some video games with my husband and son. I loaded the dishwasher and washing machine, vacuumed the house, fed my son his favorite Tyson Dino chicken nuggets and veggie tots for lunch, checked emails then watched a Cat in the Hat cartoon with my son before we picked up all his toys in the living room. When the 4 hours had gone by I was so ready to try the Dole Tropical Fruit Coconut Pizza!

After the tropical pizza crusts were ready I opened the can of Dole Tropical Fruit, Dole Strawberry cups, sliced the kiwi and toasted more coconut for the top of the crust (I love a lot of coconut). I used a butter knife around the edge of my pie tins to get the crust out, I turned it onto a plate tapped the bottom and it fell onto the plate, using another plate I turned the crust right side up to be able to use. This was easy and made it so I did not break the crust while getting it out of the tin. (The same as getting a cake out of a pan.)

I added extra coconut to the top of my crust. You can add it on top of your fruit as well. I wanted to have a bit of a crunch under the soft fruit.

My finished Dole Tropical Coconut Pizza #tropicalfruit

Thankfully I made two Dole Tropical Coconut Pizzas. I knew my son would grab the fruit as soon as I put it on the table. He loves strawberries! He even put his face into it so he could lick the sweet crust. There was a few oh wow and yummy comments from him. Just like any pizza he has, he picked off toppings before he took a bite of the whole thing. #tropicalfruit

 Just as he climbed onto the table to get me to continue letting him lick the pizza our friends arrived for dessert and video games. My son and I shared the one he licked lol and I sliced up and served the other one for everyone else.

 I love how this Dole Tropical Coconut Pizza turned out. Its sweet to eat and beautiful to look at. I can see us making this again using other fruit toppings too. Using the pie tin gave the pizza a nice tall crust.

You can find more Recipes from Dole on their website. They have all sorts of recipes that I want to make. I have seen a few other bloggers make a turkey burger with Dole Pineapple rings that look delicious! You can read my Google+ story about my shopping trip to Safeway and see how silly my kid gets when we go shopping.

*I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Dole #CBias #SocialFabric #tropicalfruit All opinions expressed in this post are 100% my own.

Another Fun State Fair Trip

Our friends invited us to go to the State Fair one more time before it ended. We could not resists an opportunity to see the animals, the gardens, the food, the smells of it all. There is something wonderful about the CA state fair that makes me love it. Sharing it with my son is priceless! He talks up a storm when we go, Naming all the animals and telling me what they say. Pointing out the babies, mommies and daddies he sees. Laughing at things I am not sure why he thinks are funny. And running around like he is a track star. I am still exhausted a few days later! I had to share some of his cute pictures with everyone. My boy is a wild child but so darn cute!!

LEGO® Brickation at Lake Tahoe CA Heavenly Village Event and Prize Pack Giveaway #LegoBrickation

LEGO is such a well known name. What kid has not played with a set, what Mom has not stepped on one while cleaning or accidentally sucked one up in a vacuum, or was that just me! :) We go in the LEGO store when we visit the mall just to see all the neat creations that are made.

If you are planning to visit or a local to Lake Tahoe you can visit the FREE  LEGO® Brickation event. Lake Tahoe Brickcation LEGO Experience is a fun, free event for the entire family.

LEGO® Brickation is a fun, hands-on experience of building and playing with LEGO bricks.  Help create a custom LEGO Lake Tahoe Mosaic, challenge a family member on the LEGO Race Ramp or capture a photo with life-size LEGO models.

Hands-on DUPLO play zones engage even the youngest members of the family. July 25, 2012 – September 4, 2012. Sunday -Thursday: 10:00 am to 7:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.   At the Heavenly Village, 1001 Heavenly Village Way.  Cost:  Free!

July 25^th – September 4^th 

1001 Heavenly Village Way

South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

We are hoping to make it up to Tahoe to visit the Brickation event if we go up there to celebrate our wedding anniversary. My son would have a blast I am sure. At the CA state fair he spent a ton of time at the LEGO creation table and wall. I had to convince him to go get cotton candy to get him to leave!

Even if you are not a local and plan to visit the Lake Tahoe CA Brickation Event you can still win a LEGO Prize pack containing a mini LEGO set, LEGO magazine, LEGO pirate hat and more.

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* I received one or more of the products or Services mentioned above for free to review on my blog. This is a  paid sponsored post and all opinions / stories shared are my own.. I am disclosing this in accordance With the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Oh My Squash!

This is the first year we have grown crook neck squash and zucchini squash. It has been so much fun going outside each morning with my son to check on the plants. We have grown huge zucchini and bright yellow crook neck squash. On my birthday we picked a few to have for dinner later in the week. I find growing plants to be so rewarding. I want to plant all sorts of things! Our watermelons are getting big, pumpkins coming in and cantaloupe beginning to grow too.

My son was saying wow cool when I handed him the first zucchini we have grown for him to take inside to show his Dad. My first thought was oh my I need to make fried zucchini rings with that! :)

Now I just need some great recipes for all the squash we will have in a few weeks. 

Do you have any recipes to share?

Makeover Your Man with MaLo Underwear

Who says Men's Underwear has to be boring??!! My husband is a man of comfort. If it has worked for the last 10 years why change it seems to be his attitude about underwear. I am so tired of seeing plain and starting to fade in color undies when I do laundry. The same bland colors over and over. His clothing is up to date, his shoes too so I convinced him he should try updating his undies as well.

We went shopping at Target to buy some of the new MaLo Mario Lopez Underwear and Undershirts. I read online about a few of the designs they had for the MaLo brand. I showed a few to my husband that I knew he would try. My husband can be picky about things I buy for him, he and I have opposite ends of what we think is stylish.

My first thought when we arrived at Target and saw many of the items were not in stock was oh no! I knew my husband likes the plain one color type of things but I remained hopeful he would be willing to try something new. I told him how it was Mario "Slater" Lopez designs so it must be cool! :)

 

Target was out of stock on the MaLo Purple or Black undies that had the MaLo logo in the corner, the ones I showed a picture to my husband to convince him to try them. They did have these ones that I think are cute, but my husband thought they were a bit kid like. I mentioned how they will make him feel younger and more cool. He just smiled and said he will try them to see how comfortable they are. (note to self dont tell your husband ANYTHING will make him feel younger its an implication he is old lol) 

 
We wandered around Target for a while looking at toys, movies, sports, electronics, typical guy stuff since my husband and son were with me. We had fun looking around getting ideas for gifts and decor. My son just had his last two balls popped by the dog so we decided to get him a new one. These ones were huge and on sale!

Love the SF Giants!

Purchasing our #MaLoUnderwear

 We ended up buying one pack of MaLo Trunk Undies, MaLo Tank Tops and a big yellow ball. My son carried more items all around the store but we made him pick just one. You can read more about our shopping trip and the silly things my son does while we shop in my Google+ Story.

Here is the boring faded before items I am  trying to get my husband to replace with MaLo items.

Old Underwear we are replacing with MaLo

At home with the new MaLo items. I was excited to hear what my husband thought of them.

 I ask my husband for his honest opinion of the MaLo Underwear and Tanks. He said the undies fit a little big for the size on the legs and the band was a bit big but the tanks were comfy. He also added they are good summer undies since the material is thin. He wants to keep an eye out for the plain ones like the tanks with the MaLo design to have the underwear that matches. He did suggest underwear designs that reflect the design on the front of the Roman / Greek statue theme. I thought that would be a fun idea too. Although I did tell Mario Lopez at a twitter party I thought Glow in the Dark Super Heroes would be cool, see how opposite ends of style my husband and I are lol. 

We did have the chance to go through his closet and bag up items to donate, others to sew into a winter blanket for the dog (yes I am a thrifty upcycler when I can be) Some of the items were tshirts, sweatshirts and some socks. I could not get him to part with his old comfy stuff but he is wanting to add to his wardrobe more of the MaLo items so its a start!!

*I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and MaLo #CBias #SocialFabric

A Moms Guide for Back To School

I have such wonderful memories of sending my five children to their first day of school. Now being able to help prepare my grandson for his first day of kindergarten, it is so much fun and excitement!

A Back to School Guide is helpful for me to see all the great products that are available. My grandson is looking forward to shopping for art supplies, pencils, a pencil box, a backpack, and more. He seems to think he is going to need a lot of things for school.


For my grandson starting Kindergarten, I do know he will need many school supplies for drawing, painting, gluing, coloring and many of the great projects kids do. I will be shopping for Elmer's products later in the week for my family. I cannot wait to see the wonderful creations he will bring over to share with me. I will hang them in my home and on my fridge to admire.

I wanted to help my daughter stay organized and to be prepared for all the excitement of the first day of school for my grandson by helping her shop. A Moms Guide on getting your kids prepared for Back to School is the best place to start for planning your shipping trips. #momsguide

Open publication - Free publishing - More back to school

I will treasure the shopping trip with my grandson to buy him school supplies for his first day of Kindergarten. He is the first one out of my four grandchildren to start school. It's an exciting time for all of us, and I am so happy and grateful to be sharing in this wonderful time in his life.

*I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own and your experience may vary.

Ella's Kitchen Review and Giveaway - Road Trip

With Baby Ashley growing up right before our eyes it is time to start feeding her "real" food. I think that I am holding on to the baby stage a little longer on this one and so I have been slacking on the start of introducing solids. I found a great product in Ella's Kitchen to help me get started. Ella's Kitchen is 100% organic food for babies and toddlers.

Ella's Kitchen has a great selection of food products such as First Tastes, Fruit + Baby Rice, Smoothie Fruits, and more. With cute names like "The Red One" and "The Yellow One" you will want to check them out. Every pouch is labeled with the age range for the food and it's contents. Each one is 100% organic with no additives or water, just yummy organic food for babies!

Ella's Kitchen products were perfect for our road trip. They are just the right portion size, easy to squeeze onto a spoon and the baby ate them right up.I love knowing my baby was eating healthy and organic while we were away from home, just because we were traveling does not mean that we need to skimp on proper eating. Another great travel tip is you can also take them on a plane with you while you travel with your little one. We just love Ella's Kitchen and I know you will too!!



GIVEAWAY
 
 Win a box of Ella's Kitchen food pouches.


To Enter This Giveaway: (mandatory entry before extra entries)


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#Win @EllasKitchen organic food pouches at @FrugalFamTree #Giveaway ends 8/8 http://www.frugalfamilytree.com/2012/07/ellas-kitchen-review-and-giveaway-road.html

 

 

 *Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts July 25, 2012 and ends on August 8, 2012 at midnight PST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. I was provided items in this post for free to review. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize

Happy Birthday Laura

We here at Frugal Family Tree want to wish Laura a very Happy Birthday today. Have a great day and enjoy!!!!!