S Club Mama

It's summer. I don't know about your family, but we enjoy a good, juicy burger from the grill. Almost everything tastes better off the grill (I'll put a disclaimer that I haven't tried everything on the grill so maybe something doesn't taste better this way). Big A & I switch off who grills; I enjoy it as much as he does, but often he does the grilling because I'm doing something else at the same time.  Cave Tools kindly let us try out their pigtail flipper. It's a handy little tool to flip things on the grill (or inside, I guess, although I haven't done that yet). It's mostly advertised as a bacon flipper - or that's what I think of it as. Big A tried it out on the grill flipping burgers. I'd say they flipped over without the small pieces coming off when you use a traditional spatula flipper.  And very handy to reach back for those back burgers (or hotdogs or vegetables or whatever).  While I haven't used it inside y...

One of my gifts is the gift of encouragement. I frequently enjoy writing notes to my friends and acquaintances, telling them what they mean to me or what they mean to our Lord. I know that words of affirmation are my love language and I like to share that language with others. Paperless Post is a website that helps me to do this in a manner that fits my life. I was frustrated after my baby was born in July. I struggled to get thank you notes written for the wonderful ways people were blessing us with meals and gifts. Once I got them written, they sat on our counter or in my purse for months because I didn't go out or I'd forget they were there. Nothing worse than undelivered mail. With the USPS price of stamps going up, I fear that will begin to kill the art of snail mail (is that still an art?). Whether that be notes of encouragement, birthday or wedding invitations, thank you notes, or Christmas cards; it gets to be expensive to send a card. this is the car...

Since I've been a mom, I've been concerned over cooking things properly for my children. Is the baby food mushy enough? Is the formula too cold? Are the grapes cut small enough? However, I've never used a food thermometer to check the temperature of meat. Well, enough of that! I got myself a Cave Tools digital thermometer. Not having a thermometer for so long, it does take some discipline for me to use it (mostly to remember I have it to use). I have been using my Instant Pot a lot since the baby's birth and that's given me time and space to use the thermometer. I plan to start making my own yogurt in my Instant Pot so this is going to come in handy for making sure the milk is at a high enough temperature and then cooled to a low enough temperature in that process.  way hot enough for chicken   I like how sleek it is; it doesn't take up much room in my overflowing kitchen drawers.  The thermometer is 100% stainless steel, waterproof, shatterproof.  I k...

After my fourth baby was born this summer, I've started to have my biggest boy, who is 11, get food out of the oven for me. He doesn't have the most grace so this was a leap for me. I just hate for him to burn himself. Needless to say, having the opportunity to have these Cave Tool BBQ gloves was great! These BBQ gloves are thick and have this red silicone parts so he's not going to have something hot slip from his hands. He did spill fries getting them out last week but that was his inexperienced grace. Oops! I love that the light weight flame retardant aramid fiber part of these that extends way past my wrist (and his) so no real chance of a forearm burn. They are flexible and have a great grip! It doesn't feel hot at all when I'm reaching in. Do be careful if your gloves get wet; these gloves are not waterproof. So steam and hot liquids can still burn you through the gloves (like most oven mitts).  My husband has huge hands and the...

I've been enjoying my Cave Tools BBQ brush and vegetable basket for awhile now! The BBQ brush has been in use for 2 years almost; I think that's a pretty good lifetime for a grill tool. I decided to try out their hook rack . I was hoping to find an unconventional use for the hook rack - maybe hang my daughter's princess dresses on it. I couldn't find a reasonable place to hang it in our house for that purpose. But I also found the hooks to be too close together to use for costume purposes. So I'm still looking for better ideas for that instead of shoving her dresses into a plastic storage container drawer (who needs wrinkled princess dresses?! haha). I also thought about putting it into our kids' bathroom for their towels but the 5 hooks are a little close together to allow towels to dry out (in my opinion). I went ahead and am using the hook rack for its natural purpose - to hang up my grill tools. My husband did not use the screwdriver that came with ...

In the summer, I cut down on my cooking time by grilling. I enjoy hamburgers and hotdogs and bratwurst and chicken, all grilled. I had never had grilled vegetables before using the Cave Tools vegetable grill basket . I followed the directions by spraying the basket with cooking spray before using it, but that left ours with a dingy film on it. I'm not sure how much food would've been caked on without it, however. I just let my husband wash it - big burly guy he is! this box was shiny silver before cooking My first attempt with the vegetable grill basket was with white potatoes. I thought they would taste really good grilled. Perhaps I filled the box too full, or had the flames too high, but our potatoes were largely burned or underdone. It took a lot of ketchup to eat that meal. not my best attempt It really has gotten way too cold to Grill here in Kansas. It is in the 20s and I cannot bring myself to go outside and grill. However, I do plan to try the vege...

When most people think of grilling, they think of summertime. Not me. If it's nice enough outside, I don't care the season, I like to grill. Doesn't matter what's being grilled either: burgers, chicken, pork chops, hot dogs (oh I love me a good hot dog). It just tastes better! I even tried to grill bacon once...I about killed our grill on that one. But wouldn't it have tasted awesome?! Hard to improve on bacon but I think grilling could! see? all shiny! I digress. With grilling so much, our grill gets dirty. We've tried cheap brushes from the store and they work ok; nothing fancy. Then I got to try Cave Tools BBQ Brush and I love it! It was shiny when I got it but now it's dirty from all the hard work it does. I don't have to push super hard like with the cheap ones to get my grill clean. I just liked that pretty much with one swipe, I was done cleaning that section. I don't waste a lot of time on grill maintenance like that so it's nice to...

Feeln.com is a steaming service (think Netflix, Amazon Prime) that brings you feel good stories, heartfelt stories, including Hallmark Hall of Fame, Hollywood films, tv series, and original series you won't find on other streaming sites. Tomorrow on May 5th, Feeln is releasing it's new original series, The Eleventh. I had the opportunity to screen the first two episodes so I could share with you about them! My first applause is that the series' episodes are only 12-minutes long. And in those twelve minutes, they did a fantastic job of catching my attention. Granted, I love tv so maybe I'm just an easy target, but regardless, the end of the second episode left me in a cliffhanger and I cannot wait to see how it turns out. “The Eleventh” is a Feeln original drama series that focuses on a young girl’s journey to getting to know her estranged grandmother in order to bring closure to the past and unite her family. The acting was really good. I'm used to seeing Clo...

As I was reading my normal blogs, I kept noticing these Ja-Vie shoes everywhere. They sounded terrific - a pillow shoe. Now, I'd just spent a day at the hospital for Moose's MRI and my feet were shot. I'm just not used to spending so much time on my feet. this and the above picture from the Ja-Vie website I acquired a beautiful pair of gold sparkly Ja-Vie shoes. The sizing is European so I had to get the biggest size they carry. Boo for big feet. When I first got the shoes, they seemed too narrow. I was bummed! I almost gave them away! Then I had to wear them again (I have a seriously limited selection of shoes) and was pleasantly surprised to see they had stretched to accommodate the girth of my feet. Seriously my feet just do not fit the rest of me; they've grown longer with each child and flatter (thus wider) with running. But they can do some amazing things so I'll keep them. :)  who doesn't love some sparkle?! nice so you don...

Simple Grace is a new Christian magazine designed for women and "was created from the desire to seek God's heart on a daily basis; the core of the magazine is a short, daily devotional that addresses everyday problems we all face - plus it has content that all of us can relate to including interviews with well-known personalities and a media guide." image via the Simple Grace website What I like: I love the size of this magazine/devotional. It's small like Reader's Digest so it's easily carried around in my van or purse or diaper bag. It would be great to take this along and read it before I pick my kids up from school! I haven't done that yet but it'd be a good way to get my head on straight with the Lord before the chaos of after school erupts. I like the section about social media where an author or someone asks a question on Facebook or Twitter of their fans. In the issue I read (August 2015), Karen Kingsbury asked her Facebook fans "...

My boys and I got the opportunity to watch the new Veggie Tales DVD, "Noah's Ark." The first thing I noticed was that Bob and Larry look....different. Weird. They have no eye lids anymore and Larry's coloring is more realistic rather than monochromatic. To me, it makes them look more childish like this show is for babies, which it's not. Maybe I just don't like change or think, 'if it's not broke, don't fix it.' image via walmart.com The movie itself was good. Shem (Noah's son) comes home from his honeymoon to find his family building an ark, The Ark. He's not so happy about it because it spoils his plans for his future. The DVD is "a lesson in trusting God" and throughout you see if Shem and his family will ultimately trust God through this flood. I asked my boys what they thought of the new look (which they actually talk about at the beginning, kind of). Squirt didn't seem too big of a fan of it while Moose seeme...

I don't watch The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. I've seen a few episodes but nothing beyond that. Dating games aren't really my cup of tea. Nothing wrong if they are, but it seems to cause a lot of controversy and upset. "It Takes a Church" is different. There is still a single wanting a relationship. There are still others lining up (or being lined up by a matchmaker) to get to know this single. There are still eliminations. However, there aren't steamy love scenes. There isn't a rose ceremony. There's no pressure of engagement or marriage. This new show, premiering tonight on the Game Show Network and starring Grammy-nominated Christian artist, Natalie Grant, has a single in a church community who gets matched up to other singles in their church. The congregation narrows it down to 4 hopefuls. Then they get to know each other and get some counseling from the Pastor of the church. It's an interesting concept, but church is probably the best pl...

With Moose it seems when we have attacked one problem behavior (usually more embarrassing than harmful), another one comes along. So as soon as we seemed to have solved the hands down the pants ordeal (by wearing non-elastic waistband pants always), he began to chew on his collars. Collar chewing is not problematic in that it harms anyone or anything...except the shirts! Those precious shirts that I'm saving for Squirt's hand-me-downs. I don't mind hand-me-downs (mostly) but I do mind nasty chewed up, twisted collars. With this comes hours of my time scouring Etsy and the internet for something to combat this with. Etsy came to my rescue...my laundry's rescue...by showing me the iPuke shop . Yes, you read that correctly, iPuke. I'll let Sandy, the shop owner, explain for herself. It just makes sense to go with the flow. The birth of my daughter had been 15 years in waiting. All was perfect with the pregnancy and we came home after my C-section to a changed ...

I am not too picky about sunglasses, my last 4 pairs were either won on blogs or from Dollar General. I'd like nicer sunglasses but I just hate to pay for them. It seems frivolous, which is why I'm excited to share this deal for you from Redstar. This is going to sound too good to be true, but I am assured it's true. If you go to the Redstar Shades website and enter this code-   MTA14 - you will get a $500 gift certificate good toward any pair of sunglasses on their website. All you must do is pay shipping and handling. I received a pair of sunglasses from Redstar to try out. I picked these blue beauties . I haven't taken any pictures of myself in them...or any pictures at all lately. Eek! all images from Redstar website I like sunglasses in varying colors so now I've had red, white, and blue. These are marked at $150 but, to be honest, they don't seem that high quality. Maybe I just don't know my sunglasses well (duh, I shop at Dollar General for...

"Gimme Shelter" stars Vanessa Hudgens, Rosario Dawson, James Earl Jones, and Brendan Frasier. The synposis is basically that a teenage girl from a really rough, abusive home flees to her wealthy father she's never known. She finds out she's with child and is left with a huge decision to make. Ultimately she runs away and ends up in the hospital where a very persistent priest takes her under his wing. He leads her to a shelter for teenage moms where she has the chance at making a family. Rosario Dawson as June Bailey image via Grace Hill Media While viewing this movie at home wasn't as glamorous as a premiere may have been, I appreciate the opportunity to screen this movie at all. What a heartbreaking tale. Teenage pregnancy really hits home as my older sister and I were born to our mother very early in life. She was tenacious and provided us with every earthly thing that we needed. We didn't have a lot growing up, even when my parents married but it...

The first thing I noticed about The Wayfinding Bible is its clean look. It's white and has bright colors on the cover so it just looks clean cut. I like that! BUT the inside has so much more (of course)! The Wayfinding Bible has 3 reading schedules to help readers navigate God's Word. The routes are The Flyover Route (54 readings that take you through a chronological overview of the Bible), The Direct Route (215 readings that help you "gain a full perspective of the entire Bible and how it fits together), and The Scenic Route (386 readings that take you more in-depth through the Bible, reading "through well-known and not-so-well-known passages). Each route is clearly marked at the top of the pages, showing you where you're reading and where to go next. It's pretty simple if you pay attention. There are other features in this Bible that I've enjoyed. The introductions to books are really good to help you understand who wrote them and why. The "Get...

I've had such a wonderful response to my last post, I almost feel badly typing a review about something as trivial as a tv show, but Church Rescue premieres tonight (November 11 10PM EPT) on the National Geographic Channel. Following the awesome ratings of The Bible miniseries and Duck Dynasty, faith-filled shows seem to be popping up or in the works. Church Rescue follows the Church Hoppers group that goes to help churches "become an effective tool in the community" (quoting from a flyer I received). While I disagree with the terminology of this (I don't believe churches are a "tool" but a place for corporate worship of the Lord), I agree that sometimes churches need a little help when the finances aren't there to have a really nice church building (like the one I enjoy where we live) or an effective sermon (where one tends to blab on without actually making a point), or other situations I'm not aware of! "In 2012, Reuters reported that bank...

"My Mama and Me" is a "Rhyming Devotions for You and Your Child" by Crystal Bowman and Teri McKinley. Phyllis Harris made some really beautiful illustrations for this devotional. image via Amazon Each devotion rhymes, so it's easily entertaining for children. The sections speak to telling children about God, Jesus, what God thinks of us, and how to show God that we love Him. I'd like to share an example of the devotions: God Keeps You Safe The LORD is the one who keeps you safe. -Psalm 91:9, NIrV Our Devotion God keeps you safe all through the day. He watches you as you run and play. When you're at home or in the car, God is with you where you are. He keeps you safe all through the night. His moon shines down to give you light. Even through a thunderstorm, God will keep you safe and warm. Our Prayer Dear God, thank you for protecting me and keeping me safe all the time. Thank you for always being with me and watchin...

A diamond in a candle...that's worth looking into, right? What am I talking about? Diamond Candle is a company that puts a ring (not always a diamond) worth $10, $100, $1,000, or $5,000 in each of their all-natural soy candles. The rings vary in color, design, and size, so you get what you get! My ring doesn't fit the finger I wish it did but it's a really pretty diamond (or fake diamond). If it's real, it's bigger than my wedding ring! Wow! These candles themselves are really great. I got Watermelon Wedge; I figured summer is over pretty much and I won't be smelling watermelon any time soon. It smells exactly how I imagined it would and it burns just really nicely. Even sitting here typing, the candle is beside me and I can smell it's fragrance without it burning. I would love to try some of their other candle scents: carnival candy, birthday cake, lavender lemon, among others. Check out their website to see each option. You can see about wher...