Wubble Ball #GloWubble

Disclaimer: I was provided this product in exchange for my honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Remember last year when Emmalee received the Wubble Ball? We had a blast with it! She loved how huge it was!

Once again, she got to play with a Wubble Ball, but this time it was the new Glo Wubble!

The big ball is inflated with an enclosed air pump. While it is battery operated, there are no batteries included, so be sure to have some on hand if you want to be able to play right away.  We didn't have any so it was off to the store. Once we had the batteries, it inflated quickly. It gets BIG!

We brought the ball to the basement where it was dark but didn't get any glow, so we weren't sure if it needed to "charge" so we propped it near the window while we enjoyed lunch.  When we brought it down to the basement, it had a bit of a glow, but wasn't as much as we expected, so we propped it up again. After a couple hours in the light/sun, it was really glowing!!

We had a lot of fun bouncing it around in the basement! That is, until it popped, which was entirely our fault, not the balls! It hit a nail that was stuck out partially from one of the studs while we're working on the basement. --sad face--

Emmalee really loved playing with the Wubble Ball and we've already purchased 3 more since!

The entire Wubble brand makes really great, fun gifts for this holiday season!

#ShareTheJoyofPie with Marie Callender's® Dessert Pies!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ShareTheJoyOfPie #CollectiveBias

It's November and it's starting to get cold and honestly, I don't like it. Cold means winter and winter means snow and no. Just no thank you.  Last year was the worst winter in Boston's history.  Record breaking snow, missed work, down power lines... welcome to New England...

One of the best parts of last winter was getting to be friends with our new neighbors. Tyler was only 7 months old when the snow hit last year, Emma was only 3!, and with David working it was impossible really, really hard to shovel on my own. After the first big storm, Dave was coming home in the am since he had been stuck at work overnight because of the snow, I looked out the window and our neighbor was in the driveway with the snow blower! How sweet, right? And even more sweet? All he asked for in return was some homemade cookies! My little baker was happy to oblige!

Well, now that it's getting cold again, that means snow... clearly, I hate snow and I wanted to get a jump on the sweets for our sweet neighbor!

While we were at Walmart last week, Dave had a craving for some Apple Pie so we grabbed a Marie Callender's® Dutch Apple Dessert Pie, some Vanilla pudding, and Reddi-Wip®. I decided it wasn't too early to start buttering up our neighbor so I also grabbed a mason jar and some burlap ribbon.

I had an idea. I was going to make a layered, Caramel Apple Pie Parfait that I could gift to him and his wife! Super easy to make and even easier to gift!

Emma was so excited to be able to bake! She especially loved that we got to put the crumb on top of the pie! I LOVE the crumb so I was happily surprised by how much crumb was included and I loved that we got to put it on, rather than having it pre-done, it absolutely made it feel even more homemade!

After baking, we let the pie cool and made vanilla pudding. Emma even has her own pudding making whisk! We ran off to watch Wild Kratts while everything cooled and then assembled the mason jar, starting with a layer of pie, followed by a layer of pudding, and then some caramel.  We did a second set and topped it off with some Reddi-Wip®!

I added some burlap ribbin but it felt like it was missing something, so I hopped on the computer and made a quick little note to add to the top of the jar.

Direct and gets the point across right? Ps. You can totally save the image and print it out yourself to do it! I found that printing it on a a sheet of wallet size photos was perfect for a standard mason jar! 

We wrapped it up and ran across the street, leaving it on the porch railing, right where he'd see it when he got home!

Here's hoping he loved it! Got a neighbor who you'd love to #SharetheJoyofPie with? You can make our dessert or check out a ton more ideas, and coupons, here!

Apple Crisp for Two... Or One!

I think I'm the only "basic white girl" who doesn't love pumpkin, or pumpkin spice, or coffee... I digress. Give me yoga pants, leggings, duck boots, oversized sweatshirts, and plaid infinity scarves and I fit the "basic white girl" bill, except for my un-love of all things pumpkin.  Maybe once in a while I'll light a pumpkin vanilla candle, but that's it.

So when September rolls around I'm in love. September is the holy month of Fall before Pumpkin takes over. As of October 1st, pumpkin is king and the apple disappears, which is not okay with me.
I would eat apple everything all day, like my caramel apple dippers, yum.  But sometimes, I just want some warm apple pie and as a full time working mom, I don't have time to make a full pie every time I want a piece of warm pie.

So I came up with a super easy Apple "pie" for Two, but let's be honest, I eat it by myself a lot.

I use a small Corningware white ceramic dish and cut one large apple into thin slices.
Place in the dish.
In a small bowl, I combine 1/4 cup light brown sugar and 1/4 cup rolled oats.
I melt 2 Tbs of butter and mix it into the sugar and oat mix.
Spoon the mixture over apple slices.
Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until the apples are soft.
Obviously, enjoy it with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream.

Life Update - Gallstones and My Dad

Hello there!

It's been quiet here for a bit and with good reason.  My life has just been falling apart. Seriously. The week after going to the beautiful Seacrest Beach Hotel, I had a huge attack at work.  I wasn't sure what caused it but I couldn't breath, stand up, or move without sharp pains radiating through my entire chest, stomach, and back.

I was in the middle of my first class of the day and after the school nurse came down to check on me (benefit of working in a high school), she sent me to Urgent Care since my heart rate was at 122.

I spent 3 days out of work doing blood work, doctor's visits and ultrasounds to finally figure out that I had gallstones and had an attack from that.

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A week later, I got a phone call from my mom that my dad, who had been fighting stage 4 cancer for over a year, was in the hospital again.  His body was having a hard time and was shutting down.  My head was there for the 4 days he was in the hospital and that weekend, he passed away. There's so much more to say but for now, this is all I can put in writing. We spend the next few days preparing to say good bye to him and then said our final good byes.

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The next week, I had to get to work in my classroom.  I was so behind from missing 6 days in less than 3 weeks, that I ignored everything else, had panic attacks every day and forced myself to keep working even though most days I just wanted to curl up and sleep.

It was during this time that the doctors office called to confirm that I needed a gallbladder removal surgery. I have severe anxiety about anything surgical related so this was stressing me out for two weeks. I was a literal mess and other than focusing on helping to host my school's National Honor Society Trunk or Treat the night before Halloween, I wasn't much help to anyone.

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Friday I had my surgery. Now mind you, I had a full blown, crying, panic attack as the anesthesiologist was talking to me about it all because... like I said, anxiety. But everything went well.  The doctor said I was one of his easiest surgeries all week and everything looks good.  I am out of work for a couple more days while I wean myself off the narcotics they gave me for pain and learn how much I can and cannot be on my feet while teaching.  I'm sure there will still be soreness for another week or so but I'm excited to get back into the classroom after being out so much this past month.

The nice thing about being out is that I have gotten ahead on my lesson plans, had time to email companies and have even more fun holiday posts coming up, and now that I feel caught up and normal again, I can get back to my regularly scheduled posting.

I'm happy to be back!