Just Simply Holly

I have been up all night working on a few odds and ends on my computer. Yeah, I know, not the smartest move, but it had to be done. Anyway, as I was going through some of the files that I transferred over from my old computer I realized that several folders that I needed for my husband were no where to be found. I was in a bit of a panic and on the verge of waking him up in the middle of the night to find out if he knew what I had done with the files when it hit me. I hadn’t transferred the files using the transfer cable, I had actually uploaded them to a usb flash drive that I picked up to use for my classes.

With the recent cleaning and moving of furniture that I’ve done out here I wasn’t exactly sure where I had put my flash drive, but after just a few minutes of searching, I found it hanging on the peg off the side of my bookshelf. I pupped it into one of the USB ports on my computer and WALA, the files I had been freaking out about were right there before my eyes! I’ve seen several different places online that sell USB flash drives and I’d love to get personalized ones for each of us so that we know which drive belongs to whom!

In the mean time, here is a video that I put together for MemorySuppliers.com. The sell various types of memory for PC’s, Laptops and Mac’s as well as portable media devices. They also offer the option of customizing many items they sell with your own personal or company logo. Check out the video, but more importantly, be sure to check out their website!

As you’ve read here many times, we’re dog owners. Up until a week ago, we had three dogs, but as of last Sunday, we now have four. Our oldest dog (Harley) is getting ready to turn four and the baby (Sage) is just 8 weeks. Other than Harley being a boxer mix and Sage being a boxer, the four dogs have nothing in common breed wise. Let me give you a little info on the dogs themselves.

Harley is a near 4 year old Boxer/German Shepard mix. We adopted Harley from the local animal shelter when he was approximately 7 weeks old. Our next dog, Riley, is a pure bred Labrador who just turned 2 in December. We “think” Willow is a Heeler/Great Dane mix who turned 1 in January, and Sage is an 8 week old Boxer pup.

This is Harley When we first got Harley, we went “all out” on his food and treats, buying only the best that money could buy. Although the food was good nutritionally, it just did not seem to agree with his system and he had horrible diarhea quite frequently. After taking him to the vet because we were sure he was very ill, we discovered that his top dollar food was known for causing the problems we were having with him. The vet reccomended a few different foods, but also asked that for the next week or so we put him on a simple diet of boiled chicken and rice, since they were easily digested and nutritious. Everything worked out fine with Harley after that, we didn’t have any more problems with him because of his food.

This is Riley Eight months after we got Harley, we were given Riley from a friend of a friend. Originally, we were only told that Riley was a pure bred Labrador and that the people who had him just couldn’t handle him any longer. Riley was sweet, but not the nicest dog. When we first fed him and Harley at the same time, Riley wolfed down his bowl of food in a matter of seconds then went over and started on Harley’s bowl. When Harley tried to get his food back, Riley growled and bit at him to the point that it scared us. We later found out that his original owners had a pair of breeding boxers and that they had simply put Riley in with the two Boxers and let him fend for himself for food and shelter. It took a couple of weeks and a TON of work, but we finally got Riley to realize there was no need to eat his food fast or eat Harley’s food, that there would be food in his bowl when he needed it.

This is Willow Willow came to us from my sister who just HAD to have a puppy, but after only three days decided that she no longer wanted her. She tried to give Willow back to the people she had gotten her from, but they refused to take her back. Willow is a MONSTER of a dog size wise, at one year old, she is bigger than both of her older brothers. She’s not heavier, she’s very long and lean. Willow is our “wild child”, she’s the most active one, she LOVES to be outside, no matter what the weather is she’d rather be outside than inside. She is also our “chew anything and everything” dog, meaning even if she has toys, bones and food to chew on, she’d much rather chew up something she really shouldn’t! (i.e. shoes, cameras, furniture)

Then we have Sage Sage is the baby of the family and has proven to be a completely amazing dog in the week that we have had her. She’s VERY good at not having accidents in the house and her big brothers and sister have finally started to acclimate themselves to her, and she to them. We’ve nicknamed her Vicious because she likes to hide under one of the chairs then attack whatever person or dog happens to walk by…LOL!

Over the years we’ve ran into some feeding problems with the older three dogs, especially Harley and Riley. Both have had numerous times where they have thrown up as soon as they’ve eaten as well as bile problems. For the longest time we treated their tummy problems by giving them a few tablespoons of plain yogurt per day. If the problems seemed severe we would make a trip to the vet and would often put one or more dogs on the boiled chicken and rice diet, which would always cure the problem.

Although none of the above solutions are invonvenient, my husband decided that the time had come to look into dog foods better. Our dogs are exclusively fed dry food as we cannot deal with the “smells” that escape when they eat canned foods. So one evening he went online and started researching dog food, looking at every last ingredient as well as the nutritional benefits. After a couple of evenings of doing this, he finally narrowed his “list” of foods down to three and the following weekend we started what we now refer to as the “Food Trials”….LOL!

It took a few weeks to try the three different foods, but of the three, one came through the trial with flying colors! That food ended up being Beneful. Since starting the older three dogs on Beneful we haven’t had a single incident with them throwing up and haven’t had to give them yogurt, nor have we had problems with any of the dogs having diarrhea. Since having such success with feeding the older dogs Beneful, we decided that Sage would be started right off on Beneful. I truly belive that doing so was a great idea because she is gaining weight, we haven’t had any problems with diarrhea with her and she really seems to love the food! And since the older dogs are also eating Beneful, if she happens to sneak to their food bowls it’s not going to shock her system as badly.

No, I’m not being paid to write this! It was something that I felt was important to put out there for other dog owners. I think it’s awesome that I have 4 different dogs and I’ve found one food that they can eat that will meet their nutritional needs and not cause problems with their systems! All four dogs are in DIRE need of a good grooming, yet all four of them have beautiful shiny coats! And the other thing I’ve noticed with the dogs is that they are much more active on the Beneful, which is a plus, especially since Harley is the dog that would much rather curl up in the recliner than spend time outside….LOL!

Many times I talk about being disgruntled or unhappy over a product or service I have received. I decided that I needed to take the time to talk about a company that actually DOES stand behind their products for a change! The company I’m about to tell you about will definitely be getting return service from my family!

The company is Mr. Coffee. Now Mr. Coffee is definitely a world known brand name, but for the most part I have steered clear of their coffee makers because of other peoples experiences with them. But last fall we were in a position where we needed to replace our coffee maker ASAP and didn’t have the $$$ to replace it with the brand we had been using for several years. So we went to our local “carry every product under the sun” store to see what our options were. There were several brands and types of coffee makers to choose from, but we finally decided on this one because it offered us the ability to set the machine up at night and have coffee ready when we woke up.

Other than a few quirky things, we were quite happy with this machine until about a week ago. Out of the middle of no where the illuminated dial that tells the time, length of time the current brew cycle has been on and programmed brew time went on the fritz to the point that it was unreadable. We tried everything we could think of to fix it short of tearing it apart, but no luck. So we just decided that we’d use it as it until we could afford to replace it. One day while I was gone my husband decided to call the company and see if they had any suggestions as to how to fix the problem. The lady on the other end of the phone walked him through a few different things, but the clock still would not work. She then asked my husband for our mailing address, telling him since they couldn’t fix it, the would replace it at no charge to us. The only thing was that the black and red model was out of stock, so she would have to ship us the black and chrome model, if that was OK, which it was!

This was, I believe, late Tuesday afternoon. Within 24 hours he had an email confirmation from the company that also included a tracking number for UPS for us to track the package. Imagine our surprise when we found that it was scheduled to be delivered today (Friday). I’m thrilled to say that the package was delivered on time and that Mr. Coffee actually upgraded the machine we had to this one. I actually like the new one better. It’s basically the same as the old one, only it’s a different shape.

So the Mr. Coffee company gets two thumbs up from this consumer!!

Although I like to think that I prefer a homecooked dinner for my family, there are often times when the reality is that it’s not always possible to have the time to cook, or the desire! Unfortunately each one of my family members has completely different food tastes and likes/dislikes, so eating dinner out or grabbing take out sometimes can mean a battle or, in the case of carry out, multiple stops. The one exception to that is pizza, but once again, we have people in this house who like pizza from one place while others don’t care for that pizza place and like a totally different one. So we try to alternate so that we all get to enjoy pizza from our pizza place of choice. Our differences in choice of favorite pizza places may have come to an end with a discovery that was made last night!

For many months we’ve seen the commercials on TV for Papa Murphy’s take and bake pizzas. Although there were a few in the area, none were close enough to us to be convenient. I had to take my daughter to see her doctor last night and they had moved to a new office since the last time I had taken her, so I was driving down a road I normally don’t drive down. On the way I noticed a new strip mall with a couple of shops that I thought would be neat to check out, and in the midst of those shops was a Papa Murphy’s! I thought that maybe on our way home from the doctors office I’d ask my daughter if she felt like trying their pizza and if she said yes I’d call my husband and get his opinion. She said sure and when I called my husband, he also said sure!

I wasn’t exactly what to expect or do when I went in and when I mentioned to the young lady behind the counter that it was my first visit, she was more than happy to explain what they had to offer, what they did and told me to be free to ask any questions that I had. First, I was THRILLED to find out that they offered mine and my husbands FAVORITE pizza topping (green olives), but I was even happier to find out that they also allowed you to substitute toppings on pizzas for ones of your own choice, just as long as you didn’t go over the original amount of toppings.

For instance, they offer stuffed crust pizzas and I was considering the CHICAGO-STYLE STUFFED PIZZA™ which included Premium salami and pepperoni, Italian sausage, beef, and onion mix. Garnished with Roma tomatoes and green onions for toppings. The only thing is, I do not care for Italian sausage or ground beef, but I was told that I could subsitute those for two toppings that I did like. But I was unsure if this would be a type of pizza that my husband would like, so I just went the safe route and ordered a pepperoni pizza and added onions and green olives for he and I. For the kids it was an easy choice, I simply ordered their Hawaiian pizza with canadian bacon and pineapple, since that is both kids favorite pizza!

The young lady behind the counter as so polite and helpful and since it was my first visit she even gave me $2 off each pizza. So I ended up getting 1 family sized pizza and 1 large pizza for a few cents over $20. Let me tell you, the family sized pizza is HUGE! If I’d have known how big it was, I would have ordered two large pizza’s instead…LOL! Now the thing with Papa Murphy’s pizzas is that they do not bake them, they make them from freshly made dough and toppings, then they wrap them in plastic wrap with the baking instructions and you take them home and bake them in your own oven.

They were, without a doubt, two of the best pizzas we have EVER eaten! The did not taste like delivery pizzas, but they also did not taste like my home made ones either. It was like having the best of both worlds! So here’s to you, Papa Murphy’s take and bake pizza! This family and it’s pets give you eight thumbs and twelve paws up for one of the best pizza dinners we’ve ever had! We look forward to many more Papa Murphy’s pizzas!

The pros of living in the country have always outweighed the cons, but there are a few things that I do miss about living in town! For instance, if you need a gallon of milk or a pack of smokes, it only takes a couple of minutes to get to the store. However, I very much prefer the view from my windows out here in the country compared to the views we had when living in town. Views like this one

But in this day and age of mobile convenience, sometimes living in “the sticks” can be a royal pain in the behind! Today the need for being in touch with employers, family members, friends and your childrens schools can be inconvenient if you frequently lose your cell phone signal. But figuring out how to keep that signal can sometimes be confusing if not frustrating, and it often can get expensive as well.

We live near an Airport and because of all the other radio and restricted frequencies around us, we often deal with weak signals or having no signal at all. And cell phone signals in many of the types of buildings that my husband works in is minimized because of the structure of the building or the materials that were used to make the buildings. A good solution would be a portable cell phone booster that is affordable and reliable as well as being easy to use and install.

The old saying “Can you hear me now” will become a thing of the past with the influx of singal boosters and amplifiers that are available in today’s market. But with all the different choices, you are faced with trying to decide which product will work best for your own personal needs. Companies like Powerful Signal offer a wide selection of products and are sure to have just the portable cell phone booster that is right for your needs! They also offer all of the “bells and whistles” you’ll need to get the booster you want to purchase from them up and running.

Besides having an wide selection of products Powerful Signal also offers it’s customers FREE expert design services and in depth answers to many of the most frequently asked questions about cell phone signal boosters. Make sure you go check out their products and find the product that is best for you, that way you don’t end up saying

Several years ago I decided that it was time for my family to stop drinking so much pop. It was so expensive and when it was in the house, it was the kids’ primary drink of choice, and mine too. The thing that bothered me the most about our pop consumption was the fact that it was nearly impossible to get the kids to drink water. And I’ve always been a firm believer that drinking water on a regular basis is something that is not only healthy, but also important.

When I stopped buying pop I started buying water. Although the kids wouldn’t walk to the sink and get a glass of water, I found that they would drink bottled water. Although the expense was nearly the same as buying pop, I knew that it was a healthier choice so I didn’t mind.

Since moving out to the country and having well water for the past 3 years ago, our dependence on bottled water has really increased. So much so that we go through an average of 4-6 cases of water a week. When you add up the cost, we spend an average of nearly $20 per week just on bottled water. But I have found a solution that will not only save money, but also reduce landfill trash!

I was recently given a 16 ounce sports bottle with it’s own water bottle filter to try from a company called Pure Water 2GO. Now, I am an EXTREMELY picky person when it comes to water. I think it’s mostly because I have very odd taste buds. But the fact of the matter is that if the water that I am drinking has even the slightest odd taste to it, I simply won’t drink it! But with the amount of money that we pay out just for bottled water, I knew that I had to find some sort of alternative!

When my Pure Water 2GO sport bottle came yesterday I was excited to give this product a try! It was awesome of the company to send a letter with my sport bottle explaining exactly what I needed to do before I even used my bottle! Before I could use it, I had to rinse the bottle and it’s filter thoroughly then squeeze a full bottle of water through the drink top before filling the bottle to drink out of it. They let you know that the water you squeeze through the filter could have some black discoloration from the carbon filter, but that it’s normal. And for me, the amount of discoloration from the carbon in the filter was almost non existent.

After going through the pre use steps, I then filled my bottle with cold tap water. Before I go any further I need to let you know that I have never been able to drink the tap water here at the new house. It had a very strong sulfur/iron smell and a weird taste that I did not like one bit!

My first drink off my sport bottle was quite a shock! I honestly was not expecting the water I was drinking to come anywhere close to tasting like the bottled water I have been purchasing for the past several years, but IT DID! And to be honest, I think it actually tastes BETTER! It reminds me of the awesome well water I had as a kid! It just tastes so fresh and clean!

Now, knowing that I’m not always right in my thinking, I decided to allow “most” my skeptical family to give my Pure Water 2Go sport bottle a try. The words from my almost 15 year old son were, “WOW, that tastes good”. My husband had just gotten home from work and was a bit grumpy, but he said it did taste better than the tap water. Unfortunately my 12 year old daughter was sick, so I wasn’t going to let her try it…LOL!

Here’s my thing though. I did the math, and this is what I came up with. The average bottle of water holds 16.9 ounces, but to make things easier, I’m going to round it up to 17 ounces. To drink a gallon of water, you’d have to drink 7.5 bottles of water. According to the Pure Water 2GO website, each filter for my sport bottle filters up to 80 gallons of water. After doing the math, 80 gallons of water equals approximately 600 bottles of water. Since we purchase our water by the case (24 bottles), that would equal out to 25 cases of water. The average price we pay for a case of water is right around $3.50, so 25 cases of water would be $87.50. Now, I’m not the smartest person on earth, but $12.95 for a sports bottle that will filter 80 gallons of water compared to $87.50 for 80 gallons of bottled water is a HUGE savings! And that is just for one bottle/one person. If, as in my case, you have a family of 4, that would be a savings of $298.20 for 80 gallons of water. Now, if you’d rather have a time period versus gallons, a 16 ounce Pure Water 2GO sport bottle will last approximately 2-3 months. No matter if you use gallons or time, this bottle will save my family a HUGE amount of money!

My plan is to use this bottle while I’m at school. On an average day I purchase 2-4 bottles of water from the school vending machines and at $1.25 a bottle, that adds up FAST! And yes, I’ll still use it at home as well. But I’m just so thoroughly impressed with this product and am very happy that I have the chance to review it so that other people will know what a great product it is!

If you drink a large amount of bottled water, this is a product you seriously need to check in to! If you do purchase a Pure Water 2GO bottle, I have no doubt you’ll be as please with the product as I am!

***UPDATE***

My daughter is no longer sick, so I just let her drink from my Pure Water 2GO bottle and she didn’t believe me when I said it was our tap water, she said I was lying and that I had poured a bottled water into it.  So this bottle has gotten full approval from ALL of the picky water drinkers in my home!

Yes, I know that Thanksgiving was yesterday, but since I’ve been gone since noon yesterday I thought I’d fill you in on a few things that have happened. I was recently chosen by Learning Resources® to do a product review of some of their educational toys. Yes, I know, my own children are teenagers, but I have a 6 year old niece who was held back to repeat kindergarten, so my thought was that if I could find something that would help her in school while having fun at the same time, I just might be able to help my sister win the battle!

The first game up was one called AlphaBall™ Electronic Word Game.

This was the game that I looked forward to the most because one of my niece’s biggest struggles is learning her alphabet and spelling. AlphaBall has several different games to play, and since you play using a trackball, and my niece loves a computer mouse, I thought this would be an awesome game that might hold her interest. This was a HUGE hit with my niece, and I’d post the picture of her laughing and having fun while playing it, but unfortunately I left my digital camera up in Michigan, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. But even my sister commented that she loved the fact that my niece was learning but having fun while doing so! As all parents know, if learning is made fun, the kids learn even better!

Next up was a game called Spill Your Guts™ Human Body Game.

My thought behind choosing this game was the fact that what kid doesn’t like things that seem GROSS! And no, I don’t mean gross on a bad level. We’re talking about pretend body organs that look so very authentic, even though they are much smaller than real size. Although she’s a bit young for science, my niece, as well as her older sister and my own two children, gave this game a total of eight thumbs up for being fun!

Finally we have my personal favorite, a game called Gears!Gears!Gears! ® Lights & Action Building Set. It’s relatively basic packaging gives you no idea of the fun your children will have when they open it up!

And although this was my personal favorite to begin with, the four kids playing it each gave it two thumbs up at least a dozen times! I cannot even begin to explain the many different creations kids can make with this set, the options are endless if you let your imagination run wild! I can tell you that besides the actual gears, there are also lights, stickers (some of which glow in the dark), as well as a battery operated motor to make everything work once your child builds to their hearts content! The kids enjoyed all four games, but this one kept them busy for over 2 hours alone, which says a lot considering that three of the for are teens with ADHD!

So my message to parents out there is this: Right now we are all worried about the toys that our children play with. There have been many toys that have had recalls because they make your children sick, there have others that have been recalled because pieces break off them. To alleviate your worries I recommend you check out the Learning Resources® website! Their toys and games are not only very well made and durable, but they also help your children expand their imagination and help them learn! Add all those things together and you honestly cannot ask for a better gift for your gift giving dollars!

With the job my husband is working right now, he has times where he’ll work out of town for a week or more at a time. My son and I do pretty good about him being gone, it really doesn’t upset us that much. But my daughter is a true Daddy’s Girl and she misses her daddy desperately when he’s out of town!! Fortunately he calls every night and she can chat with him online, which helps, but when it’s bed time and daddy isn’t there to kiss her goodnight and tuck her in, that’s when she has the most difficult time!

I recently discovered a website called FotoBed.com that can take a photo and print it onto things like pillow cases, shower curtains and blankets. I think if I were to take my daughters favorite picture of her daddy and have them print it onto one of their Photo Blankets it would make a huge difference and help her get through the times when he is out of town! Their website is so easy to use and their products are completely custom made, you can even add text to your photo project, which is an added plus in my eyes. They are also the only website that offers custom made shower curtains from your photos!

While I’m having a blanket made for her, maybe I’ll have a pillow case, like this one, made for myself, that way I can still snuggle up to him when he’s not home!

On top of the stress that he’s currently dealing with, my husband is also dealing with a fairly significant amount of pain. When he was in High School, he played football. During one of the games in his Senior year he was tackled and messed up his knee bad enough that he had to have surgery on it. Now mind you, this was back in the 70’s, so they didn’t have the type of surgical technology that they do today. So even though he had surgery, it really didn’t correct or fix the problem.

Then, the year that I was pregnant with our daughter, he had an accident at work and took out the same knee. The accident resulted in him tearing his ACL, but his work wanted him to go through physical therapy and see if it would heal that way, which we all knew it wouldn’t. Finally, after fighting with them for several months they finally gave in and allowed him to have arthoscopic surgery shortly after our daughter was born. Although this surgery finally fixed his knee, he has still dealt with chronic pain the past 12+ years.
Back in July I was given some samples of Freeze It Gel and I gave them to my husband to see if they would help him deal with the chronic pain he has with his knee. It worked so well that after the samples were used up, he went out and bought a large tube of it as well as one of the roll on bottles. He keeps the roll on one with his work tools, that way when he’s having pain at work he can apply the Freeze It at work without having to deal with applying the gel from the tube. He LOVES this stuff, it has been a HUGE lifesaver for him! And with all of the climbing in and out of the crawlspace because of the water problems we’ve had the past couple of days, he’s been relying on his Freeze It gel even more!

So if I were to, say, win a 1 year supply of Freeze It, not only would it help my husband deal with his chronic pain, it would also be one less thing that he has to worry about buying for a year, which would be a huge relief considering the fact that we’re not completely sure about his job right now. It’s not that Freeze It is expensive, it’s just that I’m trying my hardest to save every penny I can right now! So PLEASE Freeze It, help me keep this gorgeous smile on my husband’s face.

He’s a very important person to me and I hate seeing him in pain!

If you’d like to find out more about Freeze It gel and how it could help you or your loved one with any of the following ailments:

• Sore muscles and muscle sprains
• Back, shoulder and neck pain
• Arthritis and painful ankle, knee, hip and elbow joints

OK, I admit it, no one in this house is great when it comes to taking care of their teeth. We make our regular check ups and cleanings, and of course we go back for the fillings and things that are necessary. But we’re slackers and don’t brush and floss the way we really need to!

My husband and I underwent major dental repairs a couple of years ago which really helped, but since then he has had extremely sensitive teeth. He’s tried several different types of toothpaste that are specifically for sensitive teeth, but either disliked the taste of them or just felt that they didn’t help any. I recently received a sample tube of sensitive toothpaste and told him to take it with him last week when he was working out of town. I asked him a couple of times during the week if it was helping any and how he liked it, and all he kept saying was “Wait until I come home”.

When he was unpacking his bags Friday night, he walked up to me and handed me the empty tube of Biotene and told me that for the first time in a long time his teeth aren’t sensitive any more! I’m not sure if you can tell or not, but this is the empty tube.

He said it doesn’t hurt when he drinks a cup of coffee or even when he eats ice cream! This is so huge for him because I’ve watched him grimace in pain for so long now from eating or drinking things that we all eat and drink on a daily basis. Heck, we don’t even put our bottled water in the refrigerator any longer because of how badly it would hurt for him to take a drink of cold water! He was so happy with the results he received from Biotene sensitive toothpaste that while he was at the store Saturday morning he made sure he picked up a full sized tube so he could continue to use it! SEE!!

The problem that he has ran into in the past with other sensitive toothpastes is that it just seems like they mask the problem rather than actually resolving it, but Biotene seems to have found a way to actually solve the problem of sensitive teeth. And unlike the other sensitive toothpastes that he’s tried in the past, Biotene also takes care of his bad breath problems! So THANK YOU Biotene, you’ve got a lifelong customer in my husband!!