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Happy Birthday!


Happy Birthday to my best friend and wonderful husband! 

Lancome Luxe Box Review

In December I was one of 25 bloggers to win an exclusive Lancome Luxe Box from Loose Button. I won one for myself and one to giveaway to one lucky reader of Canadian Coupon Mom. Now that the giveaway has come to a close and my winner received her Lancome Luxe Box I want to share what we received in this exclusive box.
Tresor Midnight Rose - This is lovely scent of rose a midnight rose. It is a bit of a stronger smell but it is very nice. A delicious addiction of a raspberry and blackcurrant with a woodsy scent. I love fruity type scents or vanilla and I just love this scent. Full size price - 30ml $58, 50ml $75, 75ml $94
Aquatique - Waterproof Eyecolor Base. This is a great eyeshadow base that prevents creasing, promotes long lasting shadow wear and vibrancy. It is a silky-smooth, waterproof formula that holds pigment in place and goes on in a nude, barely-there color that evens out eyelids and leaves then with a natural, matte finish. I mainly focus on my eyes vs wearing any other make-up so this has been a great addition to my make-up case. It is crease proof and looks great one for a natural look. Full size price $28
CILS Booster XL - Super-Enhancing Mascara Base. This is another great addition for someone like myself that spends more time on eye make up then anything else. What to give your lashes an XL boost this is the trick. One sweep and the base glides on evenly and smooths your lashes to maximize the results of your favorite mascara. Lengthens, thickens lashes without clumping, while conditioning and protecting your lashes. It contains D-Panthenol and Vitamin E. Full size price $28
Genifque Youth Activating Concentrate - This little bottle holds a lot of power of youthful skin. Who doesn't want to look youthful? In 7 days you will see visibly younger skin. This is a great little product that makes your skin soft, radiant and even. Full size price 30ml $95, 50ml $125, 75ml $155.
All in all this was a fun surprise of some great beauty products from Lancome. I love all the products and my daughter loves the perfume as I think she loves the mini bottle, I do also! The eye make up is also my favorites as I love wearing pretty eye shadows. That's what was inside this cute little box.

Have you signed up to try the regular monthly Luxe Box from Loose Button? Head over to Loose Button and sign up today to get deluxe samples of great beauty products.


~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom on behalf of Loose Button and Lancome. I won this luxe box in a blogger contest. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

Truth or Dare Tuesday: Truth

I have joined another weekly post called Truth or Dare and is hosted by Patty from Positively Pampered Patty, Nancy from Whispered Inspirations and Kat from Kat's Confessions

These ladies have a lot of fun up their sleeves from the looks of it, with Truth or Dare Tuesday and #FitNFirm Fridays. Head over to anyone of the 3 blogs above or all of them to find out how you can join in on Truth or Dare Tuesdays!

This week is:

Truth - Tell us 3 things about yourself that isn't common knowledge about yourself.

or

Dare - Do a vlog post telling us a little about yourself.

So this week I have chosen Truth. I really should have went with dare as that would be a bigger challenge for myself as I don't really like to be in front of the camera but here is my truth.
  1. I am a shy person and don't like to be center of attention.
  2. I had my labret pierced just took it out about 4 years ago. 
  3. I like my grilled cheese with onions on it.
Nothing crazy but if you don't know me you wouldn't know those things. Even if you do know me you may not know this stuff :)

Looking forward to next week! Please leave me a comment below.

Next week February 7th,2012:
Truth

I secretly want to...

Dare

Do something you normally wouldn't do and write about it.

 
~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom as part of the Truth or Dare Tuesday bloghop. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

Marvelous Menu Monday - Week Jan 30-Feb 5th,2012

Last week I did great at sticking to the menu and trying a couple new recipes. We made Breakfast Burritos and Best-Ever Barbequed Ribs (recipe coming soon). This week I am aiming for another Crock-pot meal and also a new dessert with Equal
I have a few things that I am working on this week. My mom has been bugging me for weeks to find a great tasting Rice Pudding recipe so I am working on that this week also. What is your favorite dessert recipe? I have also joined #FitNFirm on Canadian Coupon Mom with a few other fellow bloggers and I will be looking for quick, easy and healthy treats to snack on.

Monday - Lazy Man's Cabbage Roll Casserole

Tuesday - Turkey and Black Bean Chili

Wednesday - Mozzarella Meatball Spaghetti with salad and garlic bread

Thursday - Fish, Rice and veggies

Friday - Smothered Pork chops and Rice Pilaf

Saturday - Hubby cooks

Sunday - Hubby cooks

Desserts - Creamy Rice Pudding Peanut Butter Granola Bars

~*Jennifer
~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Marvelous Mommy Meals and is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

Where did you learn to drive?

Okay so this is going to be a vent and I try not to vent too much on Canadian Coupon Mom but today I have really had enough of bad drivers. I know we all have our off days but I must be seeing everyone at their worst the last couple months that it is unreal!

I really do want to know where these people got their license as they have no concept of road rules or common courtesy to other drivers or pedestrians. I understand when someone walks right out in front or you or cuts you off in their car but still think. You are in a huge piece of metal going really fast what would that do if it hit a child or another adult?
Last summer my mom had the kids and they walked across town to a store where they witness a lady get hit my a car. She was on the sidewalk and the car was leaving the parking lot. This was where my family was heading. My son to this day still recalls "the lady flew up in the air and fell on the ground". How scary is that as my son was 5 and my daughter was only 3 when this happened.

In the last couple months I have seen so many people pass when there are on coming traffic with not the best road conditions, speed through town streets that are 40km and have children going home after school, people running stops, rolling stops or like yesterday my son and I where waiting for a light to change green to cross the street and the car on my left was flying up to the intersection (which was about to turn red) he did stop but didn't look like he was going to, stopping over the walk line. As I turned to look right this guy flew right through a red! Think of the people or children that would have already been through the walk to that side. I was slow as I was watching the other car but technically we should have been half way through the intersection at that moment.
I am very glad to be a cautious pedestrian and driver but I am scared of the rest of the people out there. I don't mean to offend anyone but I know you have all at sometime witnessed this stuff yourself. It is a huge responsibility to be able to drive and people need to think about this as you may take the life you someone you love it you are being irresponsible when driving. 


~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom. All opinions are honest and my own. This is not a sponsored post. I just needed to vent sorry.*~

Breakfast Burrito Recipe

My family loves burritos and we also love breakfast foods with eggs. I decided to combine both and make breakfast burritos for dinner the other night. This is what I made for our family - ingredients and amount may differ for what you and your family like. Play around with it and have fun.

Breakfast Burritos 

Ingredients

6 whole wheat flour tortillas or flour tortillas
8 Eggs
1/3 cup 2% milk
half a medium onion chopped
1 lb breakfast sausage or whatever sausage you have on hand, we used Oktoberfest 
1 cup grated cheese (any kind you like)
Salsa
Any other toppings you may wish

Directions
  • Cook sausage in frying pan according to package with onions. 
  • Remove from pan and slice into coins. I put them back into the frying pan to brown for a few minutes.
  • Crack eggs in medium bowl, whisk eggs with milk.
  • Pour egg and milk mix into frying pan and scramble eggs until cooked. 
  •  Now you can return sausage to eggs to warm or add to a bowl
  • Lay out flour tortillas on a plate add egg and sausage and top how you like. 
Sorry for the blurry picture, my kids kept moving around
My kids love all the tops in little bowls so they can add their own stuff. Once everything is added, try to avoid over filling, wrap up tortillas and enjoy!

~*Jennifer
~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Marvelous Mommy Meals. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

Joining the Fit & Firm Friday's

Okay so I have said I want to get healthy but I am still eating junk food and not moving as I need to. I have been reading posts from Nancy at Whispered Inspirations and also Amanda at Multi-Testing Mommy, oh and don't forget Julie from Sober Julie. Okay so a lot of my favorite bloggers are getting healthy and fit.

I want in on this also. I really do want to get healthy. I am really disgusted with how I have let myself go since switching to overnights at work. I used to work one of the busiest programs at work and was always on the go. I have decided the best way to maybe stick to this healthy plan is to get support from my fellow bloggers and join in on their journeys to getting fit & firm.

Each Friday I will tell you how I have done over the past week with either eating, exercising or anything to help me in this goal. This past week I thought I would work on moving. I picked up a new Wii workout by Jillian Michael's 2011 while I was at Walmart.
I picked it up on Tuesday and worked out for about 20 minutes on it. I could really feel the burn on my leg muscles from all the lunges and squats etc. I thought on Wednesday I would take a break and try again on Friday. Well Thursday came and I picked up my kids from the bus and fell really hard hurting my hip, leg, back and even my neck. I ache from head to toe. I decided to skip working out today and I plan to get moving over the weekend even if it is just pilates or yoga. At least it is something right?

As for eating, I am not doing well at all. I work overnights and I find I am off schedule when I am working. I seem to eat a least one or two more snacks over night. This I am hoping to work on during this journey as I am hoping to turn my contract overnights into full permanent by May this year.

Goals for the week:
  • Workout at least twice (need to figure out a balance with sleep) 
  • Healthy eating habits - this is my busy week at work. I want to snack less and eat healthy portions.
  • Get measurements and weight documented.
  • Drink more water.

Click the button above to join in on getting Fit & Firm. Join in on Twitter chat with hashtag #FitNFirm

~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom in part of Fit & Firm Friday. This is not a sponsored post. I just want to get healthy. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

Family Literacy Day January 27th,2012

Today is Family Literacy Day which is a national awareness initiative created by ABC Life Literacy Canada in 1999. It is held each year on January 27 to raise awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family.

What do you do on Family Literacy Day? We usually read a couple books or head to the library (if the weather is nice, not this year). This year both my children are in school so we have been working on their writing and reading more than ever. Game nights are another great way to get together with the family have tons of fun and have the kids learn reading and counting skills.
Hasbro Canada has partnered with ABC Life Literacy Canada in support of Family Literacy Day. Great games that help with teaching numeracy skills and literacy are Scrabble, Monopoly and the Game of Life. So why not have a game night tonight!

Want to find out more about Family Literacy Day, free downloads or to enter a contest visit www.FamilyLiteracyDay.ca


~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom on behalf of Hasbro Canada. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

Kraft Dinner Smart Review & Giveaway

Do you have picky eaters? Do you find yourself with the endless battle of getting your kids to eat veggies? I am pretty luck that my children are not that picky. They don't like a few different vegetables but for the most part I can get them to eat them. My son loves coleslaw!
Kraft is helping parents get their children to eat healthier and also get a little vegetables while still eating that great tasting Kraft Dinner!

Welcome Kraft Dinner Smart! There are four different varieties of this new Smart mac & cheese. Available are KD Smart Flax Omega 3, KD Smart High Fibre, KD Smart Vegetables, KD Smart Vegetables with 3 Cheese.

They contain no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives. I love that the KD Smart Vegetables contains a half serving of veggies in a 50g bowl. 
We tried all the varieties and found that each tasted great. Best part was they went over very well with the kids. The first one we tried was the High Fibre and no one noticed a difference. Hubby cooked it as a side dish one night as a request from P. It tastes just like regular KD to both him and I. As we both sat there discussing the cheesy flavor and how we enjoyed KD as a kid.

The kids and I had the Vegetable one the other day. When cooking the it though I did notice a cauliflower smell but it wasn't noticable when it was served. The kids didn't notice and enjoyed it as P said Yum, Yum, Yum while eating. They both wanted more but the pot was empty.
 
Want to try KD Smart for yourself? Enter to win a KD Smart prize pack on Marvelous Mommy Meals, just fill in the rafflecopter over there for your chance to win!
Tweet with @KraftCanada and "Like" Kraft - What's Cooking on Facebook. Plus don't forget to get your .75 cents off coupon for KD Smart.

~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom on behalf of Kraft Canada. We received complimentary products for review purpose. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

Kraft Dinner Smart Review & Giveaway

Just recently we had the opportunity to try out the new Kraft Dinner Smart. Available in the KD Smart line are Flax Omega 3, High Fibre, Vegetables and Vegetables with 3 Cheese. These are a great change to the regular Kraft Dinner we all love!

Kraft Dinner Smart contains no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives. The best part is every 50g bowl (3/4 cup prepared) contains a half a serving of veggies, is a high sources of fibre or a source of Omega -3 polyunsaturates. It also still tastes great!

We tried out all the new boxes and everyone enjoyed them all. Cooking the KD Smart is just like cooking the regular KD but the benefits are much better. Think this is a great way to get some veggies into your children if they don't like them. If they do like them think of this as an extra half serving!
See looks the same
The veggie one does smell like Cauliflower when it was cooking. As long as your kids are busy doing something else they wont even notice :) Mine were playing in another room and when it was time to eat we couldn't really smell the cauliflower as much. Tastes great just like KD should. The kids loved it and asked for more but the box only makes 3 bowls at our house.
Don't ask, I have no idea what was in the mind of this 5 yr old! haha
 
Mom enjoyed a bowl also
Our friends at Kraft Canada want you to try these great new Kraft Dinner Smart products with your family. Please fill in the rafflecopter form below, it may take a minute to load. This giveaway is open to Canada only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway  
Tweet with @KraftCanada and "Like" Kraft - What's Cooking on Facebook.

~*Jennifer 
~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Marvelous Mommy Meals. We received complimentary products for review purpose. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

Shopping for #EqualCanada in @WalmartCanada #cbias

We usually do our grocery shopping on the weekends and every second weekend now that I have been working overnights hubby does the groceries with the kids.

This past weekend was a little different and I went out after work looking for Equal sweetener in a big yellow canister after work. It is a HUGE canister and is on rollback as it is new to Canada. The regular price is $9.97 and it is on rollback for $7.97! I love a great deal, who doesn't right?!
With one of my New Years goals to eat healthy, consume more water and exercise more. I have a soft spot for tasty treat though so I thought I will try making them with Equal sweetener. This will at least allow me to have sweets and not feel super guilty for eating them.

I headed to Walmart in my town and went to the baking area to pick up my canister but there was No Equal. I looked around but didn't see a staff handy and the cash area was busy. I headed home with no sweetener. I went back to Walmart Canada yesterday to check again as I didn't look in one place, the pharmacy!
There it was all this time right in the pharmacy area. I went into Walmart Canada so early yesterday morning that the pharmacy wasn't even open yet and the store was so quiet! I am thinking I may hit the stores after getting the kids on the bus more often.

Doesn't that Blueberry pie look so yummy! I am already drooling at the thought of baking some tasty treats. Now to figure out who I will be recruiting as my helper. My daughter usually helps but she will be at a birthday party this weekend. I may get my son to help me make something from the Equal Canada website as they have a bunch of great looking recipes on their site.

I was very surprised not to see a rollback on the canister as it is suppose to be regular $9.97. I always love seeing the rollback or clearance tags as I love a good deal. I love that Walmart price matches! This saves time and money if you want only one or two things at another store that you can get when you are at Walmart. 

After getting my Equal I did a quick tour to see what else I could find. I picked up a couple gifts for hubby's birthday which is next week, dryer sheets, winter boots for P for next winter (on sale for $9!), pair of pants for A ($4) and a workout game for the Wii for me, trying to work on the other New Years goal.
Visit Equal Canada on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @EqualCanada using hashtag #EqualCanada

Stay tuned for a recipe using Equal sweetener.


~*Disclaimer: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

Marvelous Menu Monday January 23rd -29th,2012

Yikes it is already Tuesday and I haven't posted Marvelous Menu Planning meal plan. For that I am sorry. It is better late then never right? I will say I worked all week and was tired and that is my story *Smile*

So on to the menu for January 23 to the 29th, 2012:

Monday  - Lasagna and Salad (took the easy way out as I worked all weekend it was a frozen one)

Tuesday - Homemade Hamburger Helper

Wednesday - Breakfast Burritos - this will be made of eggs and maybe sausages.. yum recipe to follow recipe added.

Thursday - Best-Ever Barbecued Ribs (from Best Loved Slow Cooker pg 190) with rice and veggies

Friday - Pizza and Salad

Saturday -  Sausages and Salad with Sweet Potato fries

Sunday - Crock pot Venison Roast with veggies and potatoes

We are really getting low on meat in our freezer and will be watching sales this weekend. I also think I will place another meat order just want to organize the freezer. Don't you hate deep freezers to clean and organize? I really don't like freezing. We may start looking for an upright freezer.

~*Jennifer
~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Marvelous Mommy Meals. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

I have a Confession....

My name is Jennifer and I am a peanut butter addict. There I have said it. *Sigh* that feels a lot better.

I LOVE peanut butter, I CRAVE peanut butter. My biggest weakness is very weird and I know you will likely go eww or really? but I love ice cream with a giant scoop of peanut butter.
I would say in the last year I have consumed easily 6 kgs of peanut butter. I ate one jar in about 3 weeks when I was super stressed out over work. I love it for breakfast or snacks. I find my addiction is worse if I am stressed.

I tried searching to find out if I was missing something in my diet, the only thing I can think of is protein. I have also found out that there are more people out there with the same addition. Maybe we should start up a peanut butter anonymous group or swamp recipes.

As a peanut butter addict I searched peanut butter on the Kraft Canada website and found a TON of yummy looking treats. I really should stay away from them all but I just don't think I can. Doesn't this just look so yummy?!?
What do you have a weakness for? Do you enjoy sweet or salty?

~*Jennifer
~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Marvelous Mommy Meals. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Review & Giveaway

I love to craft and I used to scrapbook and make greeting cards all the time. I have found that traditional scrapbooking was taking over my wallet and my house. When I had my son I had to give up my craft room for a nursery. I also did have the time or energy to pull everything out for an hour or so, then have to pack everything up again.

How do I solve this problem? I turn to digital scrapbooking. It requires a computer, a program (either a photo editing or special scrapbook one) and scrapbook kits that are so much less in price than the traditional kind and can be reused over and over again!
I just recently tried out my memories Suite which is a digital scrapbooking program. There are tons of kits, paper, page elements and templates included with the program. I also love the shop as there are endless amounts of kits and at very reasonable prices, free, $1 and up!

Think you will be lost with MyMemories? Head over to the blog to find great tutorials that will get you started and learn all about the program with its wonderful features.. Another fabulous place to learn and chat with other scrapbookers is to visit MyMemories on Facebook.

Want to try out My Memories Suite v3? Visit MyMemories and use this coupon code (STMMMS1046) to save $10 off the software and also receive a $10 coupon to pick up some digital scrapbooking kits from the shop!

Review overall? I love the program and all the kits that are available. It is a bit overwhelming in the shop as there are so many great kits - everything from Holidays, kids, fun, pretty, masculine, food, etc. Once you get the hang of the basics of the program and how to save and change the .mms to .jpeg it is pretty easy.

I love the already made pages as all you have to do is drop in some photos and add text. So quick to finish up albums to catch up on scrapbooking or to make a wonderful gift for family members. You can make much more than scrapbook pages. You can make cards, websites, calendars, etc. Here is a banner I put together quickly as I was just playing around with the program. I will be working on designing Marvelous Mommy Meals with this fun program.

Our friends at MyMemories wants to give one lucky Canadian Coupon Mom reader their very own My Memories Suite v3! Please fill in the Rafflecopter form below (this takes a minute to load sometimes). Good Luck. This giveaway is open worldwide and will run from January 22nd,2012 to February 5th,2012 

Can Grocery Shopping be Dangerous?

This past weekend was a cold one and lots of snow. I do not really like winter and yes, I know I am Canadian. Anyways we needed to head out to the grocery store. The van side doors were both frozen but I finally got them free and we headed out to Food Basics. 

This past week there were lots of sales on canned goods and pastas and we stocked up. We also picked up a few fruits (as we get a group fruit and veggie box once a month so I did not want to buy much), taco kit, cheese, creamer and a few other things.

So can grocery shopping be dangerous? Yes it can.

While my son and I were both placing cans on the cash we crashed cans together and my ring finger on my right hard managed to get caught in between two cans one my son was holding and one in my hand. I will say it did hurt that is for sure. I finished putting all the stuff up. As I was about to pay I realized my hand was full of blood. My poor son was so upset as he thought he was the cause of this accident. I reassured him it was not his fault and things do happen.


This is a picture right after it happened when we got into the van, the dark spot above the blood was a blood blister that was actually pretty big. I will leave you with this - While grocery shopping proceed with caution!

~*Jennifer 

~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Marvelous Mommy Meals. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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