Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat Noodles

So you know how you're supposed to be eating stuff that is whole wheat, blah blah blah? Yeah, and you know how most of the time in the pasta/noodle category, that means you are eating gross, pasty, blahness? Well, not with these noodles. We like egg noodles. A lot. During the winter, especially. With stroganoff, with chicken or beef, with stew, just with butter or butter and peas...MMmmmmmmmm.

I grabbed a bag of the Ronzoni Whole Wheat Noodles, and, well, just based the choice on the "Whole Wheat" thing...they could be a wash with regular egg noodles, actually, from a health perspective...BUT my point is, they were tasty, and even Michael, who usually shies away from the wheat-y stuff, couldn't really differentiate them from our regular egg noodles.

Thumbs way up.

Sally Hansen Cuticle Massage Cream

I would post a picture of my winter hands, to do a "before and after" comparison, but I don't want you to have nightmares. Suffice to say that my cuticles get repulsive this time of year, and the skin around my nails gets so hangnail-y and gross, that I try to just avoid using my hands in public for about 4 months of the year.

But now I have some hope!

I picked up the Sally Hansen Cuticle Massage Cream (because my cuticle oils weren't doing much for me) and really like it. It has a great apricot scent, and a little dab goes a long way. Massage it onto your cuticles and dry fingertip areas and you'll notice an improvement right away - more so than I have ssen with other lotions and stuff.

Go, give it a whirl. I think it was around $5 at Target. Go for it!

Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit

Picked this little number up today for a fun afternoon project.

If you come across it, don't pick it up.
Walk away. Briskly.

Char and I would have been okay with the effort exerted to roll the gum/corn syrup base in sugar to make the gum. Okay with rolling the quickly hardening gum. Okay with cutting it into pieces and wrapping each piece in foil. Because won't that be fun?

It isn't fun. Because it tasted like...grossness. It just tasted like grossness. hard to chew, and definitely NOT tasty.

Kit was $12 at Garfield Park Conservatory. We worked on it for about 45 minutes. Blech. Don't do it.

Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses

After being addicted to the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes last year (but not digging them as much this year...Maybe I need cooler weather?), I've been even more into the pumpkin spice flavor to things.

Imagine my joy while shopping at Target and stumbling upon these little sweeties - Pumpkin Spice Hershey's Kisses? MMM!

I was concerned about how the pumpkin spice would meld with the chocolate, but I guess I didn't have to worry, as the whole thing is P.S. flavored...not like a P.S. flavored filling. Curiouser and curiouser...

Anyway, they are orangeish, and not terribly delish to me. I have a whole bag, so if you want to try them, come on by and I'll give 'em to you. They were kind of mushy, despite being in our cool house for the past day. I think there's white chocolate involved, as there is that weird grainy white chocolate texture going on, too.

I don't love them. That's all I have to say.

Pledge with Future Floor Finish

Our kitchen and tv room have ancient (likely 40-50 year old?) linoleum/vinyl sheet flooring, and it is VERY difficult to keep it looking decent. Until we get around to replacing it (soon! I swear it, soon!), we usually just stare it down, depressed and glum about its appearance and don't bother doing much more than quick washes because it always just looks dull and cruddy.

However, I think that is more likely because I was an awful daughter and never helped my mom clean the floors when I was growing up, because if I had, I would've certainly heard of Future Floor Finish, which is now part of the Pledge family and available at your local Target/WalMart/grocery store for around $5 for a bottle.

I wish I had taken before and after pictures of the floors. What a difference!! The floors have some shine and luster and I finally get why my Gram is always so angry with me for the condition of the floors.

Easy to use: wash floor. If you have was or lots of buildup on the floor, you may want to wash with ammonia to strip it down. Let the floor dry. I then sprayed a bit of the floor finish onto a section of the floor, and then used a rag attached to my swiffer stick to apply it evenly across the floor. DO NOT WORK YOURSELF INTO A CORNER!! The floor will remain sticky for a while until it is completely dry, and if you step across it, you'll leave a total footprint in it, even if you reapply over it. (Can you tell I half ass most projects?)

Anyway, thumbs way way up!

Pepperidge Farm Pretzel Thins in Savory Cheddar

Mmm, mmm, mmm

The taste vaguely reminds me of some other snack I enjoy, but I can't place it. Picked them up because they were on sale (Naturally) and they have a pretzel crisp texture, with a soft cheddar infusion. Great for a snack tray, though not a cheese tray - adding cheese would be ridiculous. They're just right.


Thumbs up.

Target Brand Baby Formula

Apparently I'm in a Target Brand mood today (see post below). Which is fine, because the only thing I think I've not liked that was Target brand was their knockoff of Pantene shampoo. Blech.

Anyway, I pumped breastmilk for Eleanor for almost 100% of her nutritional input for the first 9 months of her life, supplementing only occasionally with the Enfamil tubs we got from the hospital when she was born and then purchasing same.

When I stopped pumping and we made the gradual switch to 100% formula, I had sticker shock. $22-26/can of formula??? Why does anyone use this instead of nursing??? It wasn't so bad to pick up a can here or there when it would last for ages because we had breastmilk but when we were totally on formula, I did some research, and felt comfortable picking up the Target store brand of baby formula.

In addition to being LESS THAN HALF the cost of Enfamil and Similac, it agrees with Ellie and she hasn't reacted to it negatively at all. In fact, I'd guess she can't tell the difference between the two.

The powder is a little clumpier/thicker than Enfamil, but I think about on par with Similac, which isn't a big whip. They also offer a "Next Stage" formula for 9-24 month old babies, which is something Enfamil also offers.

I say give it a whirl. The nutritional values and ingredients are identical to Enfamil*. Even if your baby hates it, you're out $12 max.

*I belive that Enfamil, Similac, GoodStart, etc. have to renew their patents each year, which releases the prior year's patent out to be duplicated by store brands, so I think it may, in fact, be identical.