Author: Michelle

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Fuel Your Summer: Fuel Savings and Summer Travel {+a BIG Giveaway}

KrogerPInfotor2It’s summertime! here at Casa de Kahuna, we are wrapping up a fun week of Vacation Bible School, and the kids are eager to start day camp. We’ve got a weekly summer routine that’s taking shape, but we have a couple of fun things in store to shake up our summer.

I’m taking off at the end of the month for the first of my fortieth birthday weekends, and the rest of the family is motoring up to Chicago for a weekend with family. Mid-July we are heading to the Smoky Mountains with my parents for a week of sightseeing, swimming, and with any luck, unplugging. I’m also hoping for a few more stamps on my National Parks passport.

kids stepping in ocean

Most of our family vacations have involved water- either the beach or the pool. Above, here’s Meg stepping into the ocean for the first time in 2007 in North Carolina, and Andrew stepping in for the first time in 2009 in Massachusetts. We’ve seen the Atlantic Ocean as far north as Massachusetts and as far south as Florida. We’ve swam in pools from here down to Atlanta. Now that both kids can swim, I’ll be able to do less lifeguarding, and maybe more reading. We also like to see landmarks, tourist attractions and anything else that catches our fancy. I love vacations.

disneyfotor

We tend to pretty economical when it comes to traveling. We’ve never flown as a family of four. We search for hotel deals, pack a lot of our own food, and set moderate limits when it comes to souvenirs (See those mouse ears? That’s what they got at the Magic Kingdom!).

One thing we can’t control on vacation is the price of fuel. The only thing we can do is overestimate costs and keep our fingers crossed that we’ve estimated well. I take that back- there’s one more thing we can do. Kroger is running a Summer Fuel special, where shopping on the weekends (in June 2013) will earn you 2x the fuel points (groceries only). You read that right- every $1 spent in Kroger stores on the weekends during this promotion is worth 2 fuel points… and every 1000 points is worth $1 off per gallon. Not bad, right?

seerockcityfotor

By earning Fuel Points twice as fast, it’ll be no time at all before we’ve got the 1000 fuel points needed to save $1 per gallon when we fill up the van for our family vacation. That savings will come in handy- who doesn’t want a little extra cash on vacation? It might mean an extra meal out, more fun souvenirs or perhaps more adult beverages (it is vacation, after all). Spending less on gas means there’s more to spend on fun things (I could have purchased so many fun things at the Rock City gift shop). To earn double fuel points on June weekends (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays), follow this link to enroll: http://bit.ly/16XJg2x. Hook up your Kroger Plus card and you’ll be on your way!

{The BIG Giveaway}

To get you started on your Kroger shopping, I’m giving away a $100 gift card to one lucky reader (I KNOW. Happy grocery shopping).

To enter, tell me where you’re off to this summer, or one fun thing closer to home you’ll be doing this summer.

For additional entries, do any or all of the following, and leave me a comment for each thing that your did:

This giveaway will be open until next Wednesday, June 19, 2013 at 9pm. A winner will be notified, and will have 24 hours to repsond. If there’s no response, I will choose a new winner. Thank you so much for playing, and good luck!!

Disclosure: I was compensated with a gift card for myself for facilitating this giveaway. All of the opinions on this promotion are my own, as are the photos of my adorable children.

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This is 40 and Skin Care Reviews (they kind of go hand in hand)

This past weekend we watched “This is 40“. And we laughed because it was funny. And then I cried a little because it was true. The ridiculousness of the dynamic between the couple that’s been married for 10+ years, the crazy of the children running amuck, the denial of the impending birthday….so much of it rang true. The good news is that we aren’t business owners who need to sell our house to stay afloat.

over the hill
In hindsight, this whole marketing ploy is terribly misguided.

In a few short months, I will be 40. Do you remember when your parents turned 40? I was already a teen, so you know, they were O-L-D. Do you remember that whole line of “Over the Hill” birthday party decorations that were so popular as baby boomers hit 40? It was funny in 1987. Now it seems terribly misguided.

ANYWAY. At the end of the month, I’m meeting girlfriends for a communal birthday weekend, we all turn forty in 2013. In September, I’m going with the Cosmo moms for another weekend away. I’m not going far for either, because that isn’t really the point. At forty I’m beginning to see what’s important and what isn’t.

One thing that is starting to become important is skin care. I recently had the opportunity to try some products out of my typical interests and price range. At 40, it may be time to level up. Here are the products I was able to use:

Peter Lamas Firm and Lift Age-Defying Eye Serum: there comes a time when you realize that it is time for some kind of eye cream. I’ve always had problems sticking to one, because the positive effects are never immediate. Really, it’s damage control, so you don’t really see rewards when you use it, you see problems when you don’t.The Peter Lamas Eye Serum has a unique applicator that makes it easy to apply just a little bit around the eyes. It smells good and feels good, and is so pretty, I like to use it. It says that it has apple stem cells as an active ingredient. I don’t know if that’s apple stem cells, or apple stem cells, but it’s pleasant.

Pros: it’s in a sleek container, it smells good, the applicator is cool. Cons: none

Juara Avocado/Banana Mask: I love the idea of wearing a face mask and getting a mini-facial. This moisture inducing mask smells good, and it delivers the promised moisture, which is always a plus. When I wash it off, my face feels fantastic. It’s the wearing of the mask that’s a little difficult. The directions warn to keep it away from the eyes, but I also found that it’s important to keep it away from the lips and nostrils as well. I’m not quite sure how it works, but there’s a lot of tingling involved.

Pros: it smells good, skin feels great after use. Cons: there’s more tingling than I like when it’s applied

Sebamed  moisturizer: At some point in my early thirties, I realized I needed a real daily moisturizer. Sebamed makes a great one- it’s thick without feeling heavy or greasy. When I apply it, my skin feels instantly more hydrated, but not clogged.

It tingles a little, but it’s not uncomfortable. What is uncomfortable is what happened when I put it under my usual moisturizer/foundation combo. That was too much goodness at once, and it stopped feeling good. I found it best to use this at nighttime only.

Pros: Nice moisture, not too heavy

Cons: Smell is not appealing, can interact with other products to produce burning sensation

DeVita chamomile skin cleaner – I love that the directions on this product flat out say that you can apply it to a dry face. I don’t know why I don’t like washing my face, but I never have. This cleanser is extremely gentle, it’s smooth, not gritty. It also doesn’t involve any tingling or burning, which I appreciate. After it’s washed off, my face feels clean, but not stripped.

Pros: Can go on a dry face, it’s smooth, leaves a clean feeling, not a stripped one

Cons: none. This stuff is da bomb. Did you hear I have a birthday coming up?

 

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May is the New October: She Needs a Costume?

I fully expect October to be busy with all sorts of fall mayhem happening (I start with October because in my head, still, “the year” starts when the school year starts). I fully expect December to be a blur of sugar cookies, gift wrap and Christmas ornaments.

I’m beginning to learn to brace myself for May. May is the end-of-everything, celebrate everything month. There’s a to-do for Girl Scouts. There’s a to-do for Sunday school. And of course, there are several to-dos that are school related. Technically Meg missed the very last day of school, but there was plenty of to-doing before that day, so we didn’t feel like we missed out.

There was a second grade concert, there was a school Field Day, there was an invitation to see their most recent class project, and there was the end of school countdown via the alphabet.

This is a spectacular idea- when the class was 26 days out from being done, it was A day. The next was B day and so on. Each day, there was a little something-something to look forward to.

Then, on P day (ha! Mom, it’s P day, get it?) we got a note about S day.

S day will be Storybook day! You child should wear a costume depicting a favorite storybook character. 

And there was a note about maybe not reusing a superhero or princess costume.

So.

Here’s the thing. I have never in all of my life made a costume for my kids. We bake, we make crafts, we travel, we swim, we play Mario Kart together. I don’t so much sew for them. So I did the logical thing and turned to Pinterest.

How moms successfully navigated school projects before the Internets, I don’t know. Thank goodness I don’t have to find out.

Thankfully, Meg knew who she wanted to be. Thankfully, there were a few pins with ideas. Thankfully she didn’t have her expectations set too high.

Here are the five  simple things you’ll need to make a Skippyjon Jones costume from the popular children’s books.

1) White sweatshirt with hood. We went to Goodwill and found one for $1.99. It had a pattern on one side, so she was happy to wear it inside out.

2) Brown or white leggings (we had these in her closet).

3) 5 Brown or black socks (for paws and a tail) (we had these in my drawer)

4) Headband to attach ears to (we had this in a junk drawer)

5) Felt to make ears (ears really the most key element to this costume) (we had some left over from another project)

We used hot glue for the ears, and they stayed attached most of the day.  We attached the tail with a safety pin. We even found an orange dinosaur like the one in the “Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones” book, which was a total bonus.

DIY Skippyjon Jones costume

The most important thing is the Meg was involved in the making of this costume, and she was thrilled to wear it to school. That it actually resembled the character was a total bonus.