There are a few brands in my home that I am in love with and will never trade or switch out with any other comparable brand, even if the same no name version of the product were to be deeply discounted. Finish Quantum Powerball Dishwasher Detergent is that brand. Finish is simply the best dishwasher detergent I have ever used. I blogged about this on thriftymommastips.com way back last year when I was happily on the Finish Revolution blog team. I told you lovely readers how much I hate doing dishes and I even shared with you the Finish expert’s…

This week in my Cooking With Kids series on thriftymommastips.com we are tackling the most delicious and simple festive treat ever _ peppermint bark for Christmas!! WARNING: You will not be able to resist. Directions are easy. Ingredients: Cookie sheetCrushed candy cane bits.One package of white chocolate bitsOne package of dark or milk chocolate chips. (Your choice) Either one works.With a clean cookie sheet ready to go take the dark chocolate chips and melt them in the microwave. Eyes on the prize here because they turn fast so stir and melt one minute at most. Stir until smooth and lay…

Honestly I don’t get kids. Freezing cold out and she wants ice cream. I have no interest in ice cream again until June. Oh, to be a kid. By the way, the flavour was dubbed Superkid at Laura Secord. How could I resist that? This is a Wordless Wednesday post.

My kids are already falling asleep dreaming of sugarplums. It doesn’t take much, just the hint that December is around the corner. They are happily crafting their Santa lists, jumping around the house excitedly peeking through the window each morning to check for snow and joyously asking how many more days while ticking each number off on the kitchen calendar. Christmas is a great time for kids at our house, and it should be for children everywhere, but that’s not always the case.  Teaching children to share is a lifelong journey. When my guys were wee ones, well we would…

     Love Instagram? Love unique personalized gifts for Christmas? Then Stickygrams are for you.        Stickygram takes your Instagram photos and turns them into fridge magnets. I was an early fan of Instagram and enjoy shooting pictures on the iphone app. Instagram makes fancying up your photos easy. There are multiple filters you apply after the shot is taken and the simple process makes each photo different.     Now that Instagram has been bought by Facebook, it’s sure to be an even hotter little platform for photo stories. If you haven’t checked out Instagram yet, what are…

It’s time once again to hand out my Social Media Superstars Award. This time I am rewarding a car company for a job well done. This is us, my group of social media friends, ironically many of whom, are from London, Ontario, at the excursions part of BlissdomCA in October. For day two of our conference experience we test drove Chevrolet Canada cars, raced through the slalom course which is soaked with water for maximum effect, tasted some delicious gourmet food from a food truck catered by Gourmet Bitches and learned a whole lot about innovation and ways in which technology…

Your Santa Story arrived today and I ripped it open like a kid on Christmas morning. Your Santa Story personalized Christmas DVD will make you child’s Christmas morning 2012 even sweeter than ever before. A few weeks ago I replied to the email from the creator of Your Santa Story, a person I recalled meeting at Blogher in New York City in August. I volunteered to build My Santa Story to tell my readers about it and offer a giveaway. Your Santa Story isn’t just a cut and paste digitally created computer sleight of hand; it’s a well crafted, acted…

My kids have clearly hit the October/November blahs at school. They leave in the morning a bit slower than they did in September and they have been coming home a lot less cheery than when the sun was out in full force. My one daughter is having some challenges with getting there again and she is upset often on returning home. There have been some issues with some other kids in class that are not easy to solve at all. This weighs heavily on a sensitive anxious child. The other day a big box of Kindersurprises arrived and I was…