You Have Got to Have Great Scissors!

Please do not hold it against me that I had to use my son's video camera for the photo for this post! LOL I had no idea how to use it and couldn't find my camera. Not sure what happened to it. But, anyway , I had to do this review of these scissors and this was the only way to take a shot of them. I have had a hard time figuring out which ones are my favorite though.

I do a lot of sewing and the Westcott Titanium Bonded8" Non-Stick Straight Scissors are perfect for that. The perfect size and cut without catching onto anything. I love them so much. I won't use anything else. These will last a long time since they are Titanium. Great way to get your money's worth. Strong and sharp. A great pair of scissors in the house is a must-have and these are the pair to get.

Being a homeschooling family, we do a lot of crafts and projects at home where my Little Man has to have scissors of his own for. I really like these Westcott Kids Scissors With Microban Protection. He really likes them. They are easy for him to hold and cut so great that he has no trouble at all. The only trouble he is having now is that we don't have a lot for him to cut out. LOL All that he wants to do now is cut! The plus for me is that the Handles are infused with Microban antimicrobial product protection to inhibit the growth of bacterial odors. Really cool. They have stainless steel safety blades on them also. These will last a long time and are safe for him to use.

This last item is a great thing to have if you're an extreme couponer! It is the Westcott Scissor Mouse Paper Trimmer. It looks and feels just like a computer mouse, but has a blade in the bottom that cuts. It is very sharp and cuts just through the paper. I did have a hard time with it when I first opened it, but I realized that I was taking too much time trying to line the paper into the paper guard thing on the bottom of it. When I realized that you just have to place this mouse on the paper and very lightly push down I had no problem at all. I was cutting coupons out easily and very fast. I have also wrapped a couple of Christmas presents. Cool little gadget and it would be a great gift for a scrapbooking friend! Easy to use on any flat surface and cuts long straight lines in a flash.

The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster

Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Food Storage Recipe - Pinto Bean Fudge

I just now heard of doing this and think that it sounds very interesting and good for you. I have 25 pounds of Pinto beans in my food storage. This would be a great new way to use them.

Pinto Bean Fudge

1 cup of cooked pinto beans, mashed

1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk

3/4 cup of melted butter

1 Tbsp vanilla

3/4 cup of baking cocoa

2 pounds of powdered sugar

Put your soft pinto beans in a food processor and mash them until they are real smooth. Add the mashed beans with the melted butter, vanilla, and cocoa. After that’s all combined, add the powdered sugar. You can also add about a 1/2 cup of chopped nuts or so. Combine everything together really good until it is all blended. Spread the fudge mixture into a well buttered 9x13 pan. Then put it in your refrigerator. That’s where you’ll have to store this fudge or it will get too soft. Cut it into pieces and eat.

The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster

Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

High Heels & Grills: 8 Can Taco Soup

High Heels & Grills: 8 Can Taco Soup

AWESOME!! Just had to share!!



The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster

Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Homemade Gift-in-a-Jar Recipes Are a Thoughtful, Tasty and Economical Twist to Holiday Gift-Giving

You can also find a ton of other Gift In A Jar recipes online. For Thousands of different ideas for everyone in the family and all of your friends. Print the recipes out on cute paper and attach to the jars. Tip Junkie has a ton of great recipes. Great way to give gifts this year without spending a lot of money.

Homemade jar recipes with beautifully layered ingredients topped with a flourish are a thoughtful and economical way to treat friends, coworkers, neighbors or teachers to the flavors of the season. And making them is easy and fun - especially if you get the kids involved.

Jar recipes for everything from cookies to soups to hot drink mixes can be found on the internet and even in some cookbooks. In most jar recipes, you'll simply measure dry ingredients into a standard one-quart canning jar, and then tie a card with the cooking instructions to the lid. You can also adapt some of your own recipe favorites, but try a few jar recipes first to get the hang of the proportions.

Here are three classic Recipe Gifts-in-a-Jar to get you started. Build your layers in a 1-qt canning jar in the order written. For the prettiest finish, pack each layer flat before adding the next - a small ladle or meat hammer works well - then secure the lid, add a decorative ribbon and attach the cooking instructions. A link to printable instructions/gift tag for these recipes is included below.

Oatmeal Chippers Cookies Jar Mix Recipe

1-1/3 C old-fashioned oats or quick-oats

1/2 C granulated sugar

3/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 C brown sugar

1/3 C chopped pecans

1-1/3 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

variations: substitute chocolate chips for mini M&M's, or cut pecans and add more chips

Confetti Soup Jar Mix Recipe

1/3 C beef bullion granules

1/4 C dried minced onion

1/2 C dried split peas

1/4 C barley

1/2 C dried lentils

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. dried basil

1 dried bay leaf

1/3 C long-grain white rice

1-1/2 C Tri-color spiral pasta (rotini)

Cocoa Steamer Instant Hot Cocoa Jar Mix Recipe

Note: this recipe yields about 5 quarts of mix. It's a way to make bulk gifts for teachers, neighbors and co-workers, and you can package it in just about anything, from canning jars, to clean recycled food jars, to food gift bags.

1 Box Nonfat Instant Milk (8-qt yield size)

1 1-lb. jug of dry nonfat dairy creamer

1 large jar Nestle Quick, Ovaltine or another chocolate milk mix

1 1-lb. box powdered sugar

1 container Hershey's Powdered Cocoa (Dutch Processed is best)

variations: add 1 jar instant coffee for Mocha Steamer mix

Blend first 3 ingredients together in 1-2 large mixing bowls. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder, sifting if lumpy. Blend mix thoroughly and spoon into jars, bags or store in airtight container. Tie on instructions together with a candy cane or a small bag of mini-marshmallows for a holiday treat.

Print cooking instructions and gift tags to include with your Recipe-in-a-Jar Gifts.

Krista Fabregas founded Kid Smart Living in 1999 to help parents combine safety, livability and style in a home that's welcoming to family members of all ages. Find more KidSmart child safety, home decorating and living ideas at KidSmartLiving.com and on the KidSmartLiving @ Home Blog

The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster

Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!

Learn To Change The Oil In Your Car

In this economy we are all having to learn to do a lot of things on our own to save money. My daughter and me have already taught ourselves how to flush a radiator and are now going to be doing oil changes this weekend on our cars. Great way to save money and keep our cars healthy so we don't have a huge mechanics bill. I unfortunately had to have a mechanic do the motor mount on our car, but none of us had the way to do that. 60 bucks was worth it. But anyway there are a lot of things that you can do yourself on your car for a lot less money than having someone do it for you and changing the oil is one of those things. My husband wants to do it for us, but we think that we should learn to do things like this JUST IN CASE. You never know what might happen.



The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster

Ultimate Family Preparedness Pak

120 Serving Breakfast Only @ $198 (120 Servings breakfast assortment. No entrees) - Order Now!