This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #OREOChocolate #CollectiveBias
Did you know that OREO has a special flavored candy bar made with crunchy bits of OREO + mint creme filling + rich Milka chocolate candy? YUM! These OREO Mint Chocolate Candy Bars have delicious bits of OREO Cookie mixed in smooth, mint flavored creme filling and are coated in European Milka chocolate candy. You will want to be sure to stop by Walmart and pick a few of these OREO Chocolate King Size Bars while they are on Rollback for only $1!
While you are in store at Walmart picking up your $1 Rollback OREO chocolate candy bars, be sure to look and see if your store has the demo going on for the 1 Million Sample Giveaway. During Easter weekend* participating Walmart stores are giving away these bars while supplies last. *March 29 – April 1.
Check the demo locator below to see if your local Walmart is participating!
Demo Locator Code:
+Limited to one sample per customer.
++Limited supply available.
+++All times/events are subject to change.
Welcome to another week of Happiness is Homemade Link Party! We’re so glad you’re here!
With Easter just around the corner, this week’s party will focus on all things carrot! From plant-based cakes to kids cones, there’s a little something for everyone! Because doesn’t every bunny love carrots? Be sure to check out this week’s DIY wreath selections to get your creative thoughts flowing and constructions hands ready for all your upcoming seasonal projects ahead!
On with this week’s features!
On with this week’s features!
Individual Features:
This week’s first feature is this scrumptious Colorful Carrot Patch Appetizer For Spring from Comfort Spring Station, Perfect for Easter brunches and plant-based dinners at home.
My second feature is this Carrot Top Cupcakes from Hungry Happenings. Perfect for Easter!
Last but certainly not least, there is this yummy One Bowl Vegal Carrott Cake from Becoming Alice. Perfect for easy, ethical entertaining at home this season! As a fellow zero-waste, vegan, minimalist, I can’t wait to try this recipe! With that said, I hope you enjoy this week’s features! Now to meet your HIH hosts!
The rules? They are really simple! Make sure you visit a few other blogs and make some new friends along the way. Feel free to link up your favorite recipes, crafts or your latest DIY project. We want you to share it all! As always, please make sure to follow your hosts and co-hosts! Link up your posts, make some friends, and earn the chance to be featured at Happiness Is Homemade Link Party! We will feature the favorite posts each week!
Disclaimer: Adding your link to this link party gives permission to all 12 Hosts, along with any co-hosts, guest hosts, and participants of Happiness Is Homemade, to share your posts and pictures via social media and as features, roundups, etc. with an explicit link back to your original source. Therefore, linking up you agree to allow us to use your images on each of our blogs in features relating to Happiness is Homemade Link Party.
Sure, you’re doing your best to live a lifestyle that’s both healthy and thrifty. You’re trying to ensure that your body is well looked after, exercised and nourished without it costing a fortune and disrupting your carefully planned family budget but are you really putting your back into it?
Most of us consider our lifestyle healthy (and for the most part, we’re right) but many of us are neglecting one seriously important part of our health, and that’s the health of our spine. Like any other body part, most of us take it for granted and only pay it any attention when it’s not working quite so well as it should.
Of course, like any part of our body, we can only expect it to continue to function properly as we get older by taking good care of it. The trouble is that our increasingly sedentary lifestyle makes us put our spine under pressure that it hasn’t evolved to cope with. Neglecting your back can lead not only to limited flexibility but to a range of serious health conditions.
Serious health conditions? Spine-health can’t be that important, can it?
You bet it can! Let’s start with the obvious. Your spine is responsible for most of the mobility that we take for granted. We use it every time we do something that involves bending or twisting your body. Without a healthy spine, we can’t function. It’s really that simple.
We can’t run, lift weights at the gym or even reach over to the coffee table to pick up our phone when it rings. Neglecting your spine could lead to serious mobility problems even with the simple activities like sitting and walking that we rely on every day.
The spine is also the core of your central nervous system. It’s responsible for sending electrical impulses all over your body from your brain. Living a modern lifestyle can cause us to impede these impulses which could lead to a lack of sensation or even paralysis.
Your spine also runs parallel to your esophagus. Damage to your spinal column can press against your esophagus, or even puncture it, impeding your ability to swallow food and water.
Even if you exercise regularly and eat relatively well (the standard by which we measure a healthy lifestyle today), the truth is that years and years of little things like incorrect lifting technique at the gym or using heavy tools incorrectly at work can slowly but surely lead to deterioration of the spinal column, wearing away at the spinal discs and joints, leading over time to degenerative diseases.
Every day our lifestyle leads us to bad habits that cause us to do our spines more and more harm. Fortunately, fixing these matters needn’t cost a fortune or involve a complete lifestyle change.
The power of posture
There’s a reason when we’re growing up our parents and teachers keep telling us to stand up straight. It’s not just because it makes us look slovenly, it’s because bad posture can lead to a huge range of health problems. It can lead to headaches, neck pain, back and shoulder pain, and even impeded lung and digestive function.
Correcting your posture takes constant diligence but the health benefits don’t take long to present themselves. Check out this guide for some everyday hints that can help you to correct your posture.
At work
Whatever your job and career aspirations, you likely spend a lot of your day sitting. You sit in your car or on the bus or train to work. You spend 8-10 hours a day sitting at your desk while at work, you sit again on the way back home and when you get home, it’s time for another sit.
The trouble is that sitting is not a configuration that our bodies have evolved to spend long periods of time in. Given that we spend around 8-12 hours a day at work (predominantly sitting) before sitting for a little longer at home. At work we’re not only sitting, we’re leaning forward to peer at the screen.
This puts a lot of pressure on our spine not to mention our vital organs. It’s no hyperbole to say that too much sitting can kill you, even if you exercise regularly. If your job requires a lot of sitting, build opportunities into your day to get up and move.
Every 30 minutes go over to grab a glass of water or check something with a colleague. It will take just a few minutes but could do a world of good for your health.
At home
Aside from yet more sitting there are other ways in which we don’t do our spines any favors at home. When we shop for a sofa we tend to go for the most comfortable option, little knowing that comfy sofas can cause back pain.
As important as our sofa is our bed is even more important. Even in a thrifty household, your mattress is not an area in which you should be a penny pincher. The wrong mattress can be disastrous to your health in all sorts of ways. It can prevent you from getting enough sleep and lead to back and neck pain that leads to more serious issues.
Your mattress should be replaced every 10 years. If you’re in the market for a new mattress don’t waste money on an uncomfortable cage sprung mattress. A hybrid mattress is great for spine health and a restful night’s sleep. What are hybrid mattresses? It’s a pocket sprung base interspersed and topped with memory foam. This gives you the perfect balance between comfort and support.
Whether we’re aware of it or not we put our spinal health at risk when at the gym, particularly when lifting weights, many of us neglect the all-important warm up and cool down to protect our joints and the muscle tissue surrounding them.
Never sacrifice technique for weight as lifting heavier weights with incorrect technique not only compromises your goals in the long term but can lead to inadvertent back injury.
Vigilance and the fixing of a few bad habits are a small price to pay for a healthy and supple back!
Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Purinadays2018 #CollectiveBias
If you’re anything like me, a house only becomes a home when cats and dogs reside there. With the benefits of owning pets, from the companionship to improved quality of life, all of which are reasons I love being an adoptive pet owner.
The greater reason still? I just love cats and dogs. Particularly my pets. I am the adoptive pet owner of two amazing cats, Boo Radley and Shadow. I am also the adoptive owner to three amazing dogs, Roxxie, Sassy, and Harley. They are all the most loving, thoughtful companions a gal could have.
I also love that my pets require few staples to be purchased each month. Which is why I insist on buying them the best pet food and litter box staples I can buy.
But because my family lives in a small town, where the closest health food store or specialty pet food chain is a three hour round trip drive for my family and me to make. It makes being a pet owner difficult at times. Especially for my family, who provides for 5 furry family members.
Couple this with being picky about the brands of food we feed our pets. Which is why we are committed to purchasing Purina® products for our furry family members. But traveling for hours at a time to pick-up your next bag of pet food is simply out of question. Which is why I love shopping at my local Tractor Supply store.
Tractor Supply is my one-stop shop for all my pet care needs. There I can quickly pick-up litter box supplies, including Purina® Tidy Cats® 24/7 Performance Clumping Litter and pet food, including Purina ONE® SmartBlend® Chicken & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food.
Shopping at Tractor Supply also helps me save on all my pet care needs. As they consistently have the best prices in my area on Purina products. Especially each March during their Purina Days savings event, happening each March. The perfect opportunity for my family to stock-up trip for all our pet care needs. With this year marking the 5th year of this saving opportunity and as an adoptive pet owner to five awesome pets, I make sure to attend each year!
I also love that at Tractor Supply, which my husband is checking out and loading up our supplies, I’m able to bring in my leashed pets and Tractor Supply to check out any special savings that may be found on everything from pet supplies to gardening boots and canning supplies. Perfect for big bag supply trips!
During my last trip to Tractor Supply, I was able to pick-up Purina® Tidy Cats® and Purina ONE® SmartBlend® and was able to save Save $5.00 on Purina dog food and $4.00 on Tidy Cats cat litter. You can also check out current sales circular in your area running from 3/28-4/2.
Once home, I was then able to start some my pet-friendly Spring cleaning chores too. Starting with cleaning my litter box cleaning stations.
I began with cleaning the small handled brush and dustpan set that’s housed beside my litter box with a handheld steam cleaner. I then cleaned out my litter boxes with all-natural orange-infused vinegar spray. Making sure to wipe all surfaces in and around my litter boxes.
I finished cleaning up my litter box stations by refilling each box with the Purina® Tidy Cats® I purchased at Tractor Supply.
I then moved on to cleaning my pet feeding area. I wanted to not only clean the area but to spruce it up too! To do this I decided to create a DIY Pet Food Station. An area that’s easily accessible to my pets, simply for me to clean, and bright and cheery for the Spring season ahead! If you’d like to create your own pet feeding stations, check out how simple it is to make below!
To create a DIY Cat Food Station you need the following items:
Reusable cleaning towels
Pet-safe cleaner
5-15 Gallon Aquarium filter & filtering pump
Food Trays
Ice Cube Tub
Purina ONE® SmartBlend® Chicken & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food
To begin, I used same cleaning spray to wipe off a shelf in our dining room built-in bookcase. Making sure the shelf was completely dry before continuing.
As pets prefer running water to still, I used a 5-15 gallon aquarium water filter and in-freezer ice tray to create our water fountain feature. Making sure to remove the filter from its packaging, according to the manufacturer’s instructions, and priming the fountain before its initial usage. Once installed, I filled the fountain with filtered water from the fridge.
I then added cleaned food dishes and a puzzle feeder. Puzzle feeders are great for fast-eaters as it both helps your pet slow down their eating to ensure proper digestion but also to allow pets to increase their cognitive abilities by having to navigate their food portions around the feeder.
I finished the station by adding the Purina ONE® SmartBlend® Chicken & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food to my pet station. As you can see, Sassy and even Shadow and Boo loved the DIY Pet Food Station! It’s been a great addition to our home. What’s even better? All the supplies used can be purchased at your local Tractor Supply!
I love that Tractor Supply allows me to give my pets the very best even while living in a very small, rural community while saving money in the process too! I can purchase both Tidy Cat and Purina ONE SmartBlend products without having to travel a great distance in doing so!
Now that my litter boxes are clean and my pet feeding station is done, my home feels so much better! When my pets are happy and healthy, I am too! Now I want to ask, are you planning to visit your local Tractor Supply during their Purina Days this month? Or are you planning to use Tidy Cats or Purina ONE SmartBlend products this season at home? I’d love to hear about it below!
When spring finally starts to approach after a long winter, it’s one of the best things in the world. When you’re not busy enjoying your Easter chocolate, you can start thinking about how to prepare your garden to set it up for the spring and summer.
Now that the weather is warming up, you can start bringing your garden back to life after its more dormant period. If you’re going to get ready for spring, it’s a good idea to think about the greenways you can prepare your garden so that you don’t have too much of an impact on the environment. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to prepare using green methods.
Clear Up and Make Compost
Winter can leave your garden looking a little worse for wear. The debris from old plants, fallen leaves and anything that hasn’t survived the cold weather can make everything look a bit of a mess. You might want to begin your new spring garden by cleaning up any mess so that you have a blank canvas to work with.
It might be a little cool yet to start composting, but that doesn’t mean you need to throw everything away. You can still start putting together a compost heap or bin, even if it won’t be warm enough to start truly composting for a few more weeks.
Start Collecting Rainwater
With the spring rain, you have the perfect opportunity to start collecting water for use later in the year. If you know there will be dry periods when there won’t be enough rain, and you’ll have to water your garden more, it’s much greener if you have reserves of rainwater that you can make use of.
You can set up water butts to collect rainfall so you’ll have plenty to use when you need it most. Put your containers below a downpipe so that you can easily collect what you need. You can even set up a new system for funneling and collecting water so that you can maximize what you get. Go to https://www.diy.com/ideas-advice/ to find out how to set up a water butt.
Choose Some Native Plants
When you’re thinking about what to plant this year, you should consider choosing plants that will require as little care as possible. The fewer products you need to use and the less you need to water them, the better they are for the environment.
The best thing for this is plants that are native to the area or those that come from similar climates. These plants should be able to survive largely on their own in your area, so you won’t have to do as much to take care of them. It also prevents non-native plants from becoming invasive or spreading around the area, where they could have an effect on other plants or animals.
Find Green Ways to Deal with Pests
Pests of some kind are almost always a problem in gardens, and it’s worth getting on top of the problem as soon as possible. While you’re preparing your garden for spring, it’s a good time to go looking for any pests and knock any potential problems on the head now.
Over the winter, pests might have been hibernating, and now they’re getting ready to come out and enjoy the rain and the slightly warmer weather. If you deal with them now, they should be less of a problem later.
There are plenty of natural ways to deal with pests if you’re trying to stay green, but first, you need to know what pests to defend against. Take a look around your garden or find out what you tend to get in your area so you can pick the right pest deterrents.
Maintain Your Lawn
You can let your lawn go over the winter, so you might find yourself performing a rescue job when spring arrives. You might need to remove weeds and moss, and seeding your lawn to refresh it is a good idea too.
Depending on the size of your lawn, it can take a lot of work to get it up to scratch. If you visit Allenoutdoorstl.com today, you can find out about the difference a professional lawn care service could make to your lawn.
A professional service can use a variety of methods to get your lawn back to full health, helping to aerate the soil, overseed and fertilize. If you want to take a greener approach to your lawn, you might consider keeping it a little less well-maintained and groomed. Let it grow a little more naturally, instead of mowing and weeding it all the time.
Prepare Your Soil
It might not be time for planting just yet, but you can get your soil ready for planting if you want to get ahead. Winter can leave your soil solid and be lacking in nutrients, but you can refresh it in time for the spring and summer. You’ll need to wait until it’s warm enough to be able to dig. If it’s too cold, the ground could just be frozen solid, and you’ll have trouble getting your shovel in.
Don’t worry too much if your soil is compacted, as this happens naturally over time. Your goal should be to loosen it up so that it’s ready for planting. You can use a shovel or fork to turn it over, although you should do it when it’s dry, and not when it’s wet and lumpy. You can also prepare your soil by adding compost or fertilizer, which will help to provide it with the nutrients it needs.
Give Your Tools a Green Clean
You’ll need all your tools to maintain your garden for the rest of the year, so make sure they’re all ready to go. Giving them a thorough clean will keep them in good condition and prevent any problems, such as rust or just dirt building up.
Just some soapy water and a stiff brush are all you need to start cleaning and get off some of the mud. If there are any rusty patches, use a wire brush or wire wool to remove it, but be careful not to scrub too hard. You can also sharpen your tools and oil the metal to help prevent rust. Keep cleaning your tools as you use them too so that you can maintain them.
Start Growing Indoors
If you’re planning on planting seeds or bulbs, you don’t have to start them off in your garden. You can give them a better fighting chance if you start them off indoors, and it gives you something to do while you’re waiting for temperatures to rise.
You can easily grow things indoors, with the right pots, soil, and food. If you want to try to do this in a green way, you might want to steer away from plastic pots. While they’re cheap, they can break easily too, and then you can’t reuse them. Other materials are more solid and more eco-friendly.
You can also reuse materials, like egg boxes. Try saving water too, by using gray water from your home instead of taking it straight from the faucet. Once your plants have grown a little, and the weather is suitable, you can transplant them into your garden.
Draw Up a Planting Calendar
It might not be time to start planting just yet, but you can make sure you get it right by creating a calendar to follow. If you have packets of seeds or bulbs, the packets should tell you when it’s the best time to plant so that you can get it right.
By getting the timing right, you won’t have to rely so much on fertilizers, pesticides and other products, or on watering your garden too much. Don’t just plan for the spring, but start thinking about the summer and fall too. Good planning will help you maintain your garden more easily.
Plan Your Garden Layout
As well as deciding on the best times to plant, you should think about where you’re going to plant things. A good layout will help things grow more easily, and you can plan so that complimentary plants can grow together.
For example, you can set up a vegetable garden so that you have beans growing up the stalks of corn. There are ways to maximize your use of space and plant smartly so that you can keep things natural and avoid having to rely on chemicals to keep things in check. You might also want to consider some new hardscaping elements, like a patio or path, and these are best to start thinking about as soon as possible.
Consider How to Automate Your Gardening
Another thing to consider planning ahead is the automation of your garden. This has the potential not to be very environmentally-friendly if you do it wrong, like having sprinklers constantly running, but it’s easy to make it greener too.
Consider which is the best method to use to keep your garden watered, whether it’s a sprinkler system that you’ve perfectly timed and calibrated or a drip irrigation system that minimizes water use. If you’re planning on garden lights, consider using some that have motion or light sensors.
Start getting your garden ready for spring and keep things green for an environmentally responsible approach. Good preparation will set you up for a fruitful spring and summer.
Two of the biggest things we have to deal with as we grow into adult life and saving money and saving time. As we grow into adulthood it seems like our lives suddenly become twice as busy and twice as expensive.
It can be difficult for young people transitioning into adulthood to cope with the amount of money they have to spend each month and not to go completely crazy. However, if this year you want some help with saving money without having to put too much time into it, here are some ideas.
Remind Yourself
Honestly, one the simplest ways you can save yourself some time and aggro with your bills is to remind yourself to pay them. All you need to do is put a reminder on your phone to either tackle your bills, forward my mailbox or to even put a certain amount into your savings account. It will only take you a minute if you have a banking all on your phone, and it will be so much less stressful.
No more waste
One of the ways that too many of us end up losing money is by throwing food away. Often we will either make up a large portion of food and not be able to finish it, or you might simply not plan out your meals well enough during the week.
The key to saving food is by freezing it. If you want to make a curry or a big batch meal, make sure you put the extra portions in the freezer right away and don’t leave it for too long in the fridge. It means that you won’t waste food and you can simply defrost and reheat the meal in the evening when you want it.
Also, remember that when looking at fresh produce- the dates don’t mean a thing. Don’t throw away your lettuce because it is a day out of date, instead, look at the lettuce and you will see whether it is rotten or not. Thinking in this way will make a big difference to the amount of food you save and in turn, the money.
Be smart about clothes
When the new season reigns in it can be all too tempting to reach for the sales and buy a ton of new tops and dresses for it, but this is exactly where you are wasting money and your time too.
Instead, think about your clothes like an investment and only buy things which you absolutely love. Make sure you buy items which are good quality because they will last much longer and they won’t go out of style!
Laundry
Make sure that you never do a wash just for the sake of it. At the end of the week, make the time to do all of your washes at once and then hang them in the garden or the radiators rather than using the dryer. Your dryer uses up a lot of energy and money, and it sometimes takes longer to dry clothes than if you have them outside!
Today, more than ever before, we are recognizing the importance of mental health and the challenges that some people have in this area. We’re also becoming more aware of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia that can almost rob the person of themselves. With such awareness, and perhaps the first-hand experience of such conditions we’re all looking for ways to keep our mind active.
The suggestions below will not negate the need for Alzheimer’s care but they are a good starting point in terms of keeping your brain healthy and in good shape.
It’s important to remember that everyone has the occasional moment of forgetfulness, where they might go upstairs but then can’t quite remember why.
These memory lapses can occur at any age, yet interestingly, we associate this forgetfulness with aging yet aging alone does not make someone forgetful – it’s usually a slippery slope of cognitive decline due to an organic disorder, brain injury or underlying neurological illness.
According to Harvard University, a number of studies have shown that you can reduce the risk of dementia with some basic habits:
staying physically active
getting enough sleep
not smoking
having good social connections
limiting alcohol to one drink a day
eating a balanced diet low in saturated and trans fats.
In addition to these basic health habits, you might want to consider the following prophylactic suggestions that are all scientifically proven to slow down cognitive decline and/or avoid it all together.
SUPPLEMENT
There are a number of supplements such as Ginkgo Biloba and certain oils (e.g. Omega 3, 6 and 9) that are well known for keeping the brain (and in particular one’s memory) functioning healthily. Equally important is that you keep yourself hydrated, as your brain’s composition is predominantly water – which is why people often feel so hazy in their head after too many drinks the night before.
TRAIN YOUR BRAIN
There are a lot of ways you can keep your brain active, and the saying “use it or lose it” couldn’t be truer. There are app-based games such as Peak that is developed to stimulate a variety of brain performance attributes such as mental agility and memory. That said, doing a simple crossword can be just as effective in terms of keeping the mind active.
The other consideration is that anytime you learn something new and expand your mind, the brain is like a muscle in that it gets stronger the more you use it. Learning a language, for instance, is a great way to holistically train your brain.
MANAGE STRESS
This might seem like a no-brainer, but managing stress is absolutely essential to your mental health. Think of it this way, each time you have a particularly stressful incident that puts your psyche through emotional stress – this creates physiological stress in your body that can take its toll over time.
Indeed, you can see the effects of long-term stress on people’s faces and bodies. If you want to have optimal mental health you need to find a way to manage your stress.
