Are Muffins Ugly Cupcakes?

Staples. That WAS easy!

2013-08-04T21:18:00.002-04:00

So you want to talk about printers? Let me tell you first hand. I have some experience.

I tend to be the type that labors over the Internet until 2am for at least 3 days utilizing Google, Amazon reviews, and any sort of information I can get from real first hand owners before making a large purchase like a vacuum, or a new printer, for example.

A few years back I spent painstaking days selecting my new printer and when the cartridge ran out, I trotted on over to Office Max & bought the printer brand, correct cartridge. Brought it home, my engineer husband installed it & can you guess what happened?

We got an error message. To make a long story short, the printer did not read the cartridge, it gave us a ink error. We bought new cartridges, same thing. I spent 2 hours on the internet & their 1-800 line only to be told that the cartridge essentially broke our entire printer, there was NO fix for it but HEY, they would give us a deal on a new one. I asked them to note my file, the price, etc & I would call back after discussing this with my spouse. Called back 15 minutes later only to be denied the free shipping, and got the new version of the same printer sent over.

It tends to be finicky, and quite frankly, I have a grudge against it.

When Staples told me they liked my review style ( Yay me!) and asked if I was interested in reviewing for them I jumped & immediately knew I wanted to check out these laser printers they now have.

I selected the hp LASERJET PRO 200.

My reasoning?

-The reviews were high. 4.5 stars out of 5 with over 50 people reviewing on Staples website. It wasn't a $2500 product, nor was it at the bottom of the price selection. It was a nice median that a typical family, like myself, could afford on their regular budget when needing to buy a new printer for their home use.
-It is laser! No more rifling through ink cartridges to find your color coded, dot/button/letter/number coded match only to have them error on you.
-They say they are fast & more cost efficient than a ink printer. We print a good deal with a 5 & 7 year old. Between sports releases, coloring pages, copies of SSN/Birth certificates, school registration & so on & so forth, we do a good bit of waiting for our printer to "spit" out our pages. I thought it sounded pretty good to cut back some of that wait time.

So what did I think?

I think I made a pretty good choice if I do say so myself.

-The time is definitely shorter between pages. It doesn't "spit them out" like our prior printer did.

-Sometimes when I would print on textured paper ( say, for scrap booking) it would give me a bit of what I referred to as "thick spots" and I haven't seen that with the LaserJet.
Think using a paint marker vs a ball point pen. When you are doing crafts, that is a pretty important feature!

-Speed, accuracy &precision would be the 3 words I choose to describe the difference between a laser printer & a ink printer.\

-However what really takes the cake is the picture printing. Holy moly. Beautiful isn't a good enough word. The images are bright, defined, vibrant & printed in record time. They literally look like images from a glossy paged book.

I can not tell you how happy I am with this printer. I expect it to last MUCH longer than the previous 4 we have been through in our married 7 years, and to also endure the time with the same accuracy & definition as the very first print.

I strongly recommend that you check out Staples, and their line of laser printers, especially, when you are shopping for office gear. Honestly, it really is THAT easy.

Full disclosure: Staples provided me with the HP Printer for review. The thoughts and opinions expressed are strictly my own and no other compensation was received.

How did your dog get their name?

2012-02-18T14:11:00.000-05:00

We have, and have had, several pets since The Man & I first got together nearly 8 years ago. However, our first fur baby, was a not very baby min pin named Echo.

I do not know how she got her name, because we got her from a International Rescue for miniature pinschers. We made the decision to adopt from this rescue & began our search.

After we were approved for adoption we were given a list of dogs in the 4 hour range we said we'd be willing to drive. Echo was mentioned. She was living with a woman who took the old, sick, etc dogs who no one wanted.

She had around 50..

Echo " Never looks for attention,when all the dogs come running & clamoring, like she truly doesn't think she deserves it. We'd be lucky to get $50 for her, we don't know how old she is" and I was sold.

Soon after I drove 4 hours on a HOT Summer day to meet a woman in a animal shelter parking lot, she had driven 3 hours, and as she tried to hide her emotions we made the quick trade off.

Echo was missing an ear & shaking.

I put her in a blanket, held her in the car awhile, and then settled her in to drive home.

We stopped at a metro park, where I quickly found out she wasn't the type of dog who takes walks.

So we headed home. We had a crate, toys, a bed, food & water dishes, everything for her. After showing her around I let her explore a bit, when she came back to me she was crying.

Literally, she had liquid tears running out of her eyes.I like to think it was happy tears, myself.

She has been to Florida & back to Ohio with me since then. Through 4 houses, 2 babies, 3 cats & a fish.

She's blind, deaf, and often spends hours staring at nothing.She bumps into walls & her tongue permanently hangs out one side of her mouth. She's had oral surgery to remove all but one of her teeth. When we found out she was micro-chipped we had her traced back to the original puppy mill she was seized from, where she had been a breeder (she shows extensive signs of having had multiple litters) and where her ear was bitten off by another dog. She has wandered away, been found. Been loved by the boys, and terrorized, dressed up, snuggled by & attacked by the cats. She has worn a pink Snuggie & has a custom knit ski cap.

She'd kind of awesome, in a now diapered ( yes, so seriously, Target brand, size 3, cropped tail- no holes= saved carpets!! Don't judge...) mostly blind, one eared way. She is ours forever, and we are her forever home, something that so many rescued & shelter animals will never know. She certainly is trouble sometimes, as elderly & aging dogs can be, but for a pint size pup, weighing in a a whopping 9 pounds, she is a pretty good girl & I absolutely love her.

Though we will never know how she came to be called Echo, we know her as our dog, and love her!

That is my story about how our dog got her name. The rest of our pets, cats, all name human names. Max, Chuck(a female) and Bill, our 6 month kitten. I think there is something humerus about human names for pets, myself!

Do any of your pets have good stories about how their names came to be?

This post was brought to you by the "What's in a Name?" Campaign hosted by our friends at dog bark collar.

November, 24, 2011

2011-11-24T12:21:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!
Today I am thankful for turkey, and pie, and all the yummy sides as well as my family, and wonderful friends, including you, and you, and you too! ( but not you in the corner, I don't like you one bit.)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

November 23, 2011

2011-11-23T12:18:00.000-05:00

I am so thankful for a beautiful house to cook beautiful pies in, today!
I am still in that delightful stage where occasionally I find myself smiling "This is MINE" about our home.
Last night I sat on the porch at midnight & saw every single star in the milky way with nothing but my eyes. There is no light pollution here, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I have seen some good stars from our balcony in the last 3 months, but these topped them ALL. I couldn't believe how much I could see, it looked like a fake sky you'd see in a movie, or planetarium, the amount of visibility was amazing.
I'm pretty damn thankful for this beautiful home to raise our family in!

November 22, 2011

2011-11-22T09:50:00.002-05:00

Today I am thankful that Ryan & I are going to a Thanksgiving feast at Andys school...and that means the next 2 days are NO school!!
Heeeyyyy sleeping in!!!

November 21, 2011

2011-11-21T19:36:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for peppermint patties.
Life would be sad with out the delightful combo of fresh mint & chocolate!

The end.

November 20, 2011

2011-11-20T18:04:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for DATE NIGHT! The Man & I haven't had once since before he graduated in MAY!
Much over due. The Man was even sweet enough to let me drag him to the salon store to pour over hair color & hair treatment masques & even bought me a new curling iron, "..if we can leave RIGHT now" was I believe how he put it...

Love him.
Then we tried an Indian restaurant which we both liked quite a bit though neither of us could tell you what anything was we ate but the naan bread & did a few more errands that ended in buying stamps at the grocery store while I got a few items I need for cooking this week.
I know, such a sexy date right??
But, seeing as how this was the first day in the whole month of November that I have gotten to spend with him, I'll take it!

November 19, 2011

2011-11-19T17:55:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for lazy days. Weekends with no plans, hanging out in a sort of mildly gloomy yet sort of nice for this time of year weather, outside, with the boys, just enjoying life with no where to be!

November 18, 2011

2011-11-18T17:52:00.002-05:00

Today I am thankful for my kids playing so nice this morning & eating cereal & watching cartoons so I could get some extra dozing in this morning. I needed it!!!!!

November 17, 2011

2011-11-17T17:52:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for Andys school. Parent teacher conferences today & I really love it there, he does too!

November 16, 2011

2011-11-16T16:28:00.000-05:00

Blankies.
Yep.
Torn, ragged, lost all color, patched, wonderful perfect just right for you blankies.
Baby blankies, specifically.
I am nearly 28 years old & every night, I admittedly lay down, roll over & smush my face in my nearly 28 year old baby blankies.
They even have a name.
I will not share the name. Go away.
Anyway, mine have a long history.
I hoped Andy would have one. I hunted down an identical & tried to force it on him at times or 2 when he was a baby, he wasn't having it.
Ryan, when he was about 6 months old got a pack of muslin swaddling blankies & has been hooked ever since.
He, at age 3 & a half totes his "key key" around, uses it for dress up & of course has to have it at night.
He has alternates & a few thicker warmth versions he isn't a fan of & recently began protesting "no a SOFT key key!!!" when all the regular keykeys were still wet in the dryer.
I used a blow dryer to get one dry enough he could have it.
I speak blankie.
I have felt his pain & have my own life mission to make him have the best key key experience a child could ask for.
So, today I am thankful for baby blankies.
It's fun to be a mom.

November 15, 2011

2011-11-15T18:49:00.000-05:00

I'm thankful that there are only 2 more days until Friday. The Man works 6-7 days a week but Thursday nights, after Andy has a soccer class, then baths, then they are all in bed..... It is MY time!!!
I'll take a long bath, or stay up watching DVRd girlie shows & eat popcorn,phone chats with friends, whatever, in the quiet with no one awake!!!

AHHHHHH I look forward to it every week!! No school the next day, hopefully no appointments, I can sleep in as long as they will let me & not have to even get dressed the next day if I'm lucky.

I totally like those days.

A lot.
A LOT a lot.

November 14, 2011

2011-11-14T13:46:00.000-05:00

Today I am thankful for weather & seasons.
Quite frankly, one year living in South West Florida was more than enough for me.
When October hits I need yellow trees & leaves & the smell of Fall in the air. I even LIKE raking, I like leaf blowing too, but I actually LIKE to rake through all the leaves, making paths on the ground & piles to jump into!
I like pumpkin patches & apple cider. I like most everything that comes with Fall. Boots, hats, still enjoying the outside with out it being bitter cold yet it feeling good to get in a warm house!
It is a windy day today & we are almost done losing the leaves from our huge trees for the first Fall in our new house. I am delighted to just stay home on a rainy day & secretly enjoy the inside day the weather is giving us, with the wind blowing wind chimes I can hear through the door & deep breathes of the crisp air when I step outside.
Yep. I'm thankful for seasons, especially Fall!

November 13, 2011

2011-11-13T22:15:00.000-05:00

Today I am thankful for good food.
I decided to make a turkey. What goes with turkey? Clearly Thanksgiving sides.
And I never eat much on Thanksgiving , Mike will be working this year & we're never home anyway so..

Early Thanksgiving it was. And it was good. I love left overs. Turkey sandwiches & stuff..
Yay for food!

November 12, 2011

2011-11-12T22:12:00.004-05:00

I am thankful for crafts today.
Quiet projects, little time taker uppers that end in a pretty packaged result of craftiness.

November 10, 2011

2011-11-10T22:21:00.000-05:00

Today I am thankful for the gift of creativity & organization skills.
I have been loving coming up with crafts & ideas for the new house.
Super fun, especially with rainy & as of today, SNOWY late Fall/early Winter afternoons.

November 9, 2011

2011-11-10T22:18:00.000-05:00

Andy! My first born. Age 5 is such an awesome age! I absolutely adore & am thankful for my buddy.

Love him!

November 8, 2011

2011-11-08T12:48:00.000-05:00

Today I am thankful for Ryan.

We had our first class for him at the Y today.
(sigh)
Oh Ryan..you are my sweet, special, lucky you're so cute, little man.
I love you tremendously & am so thankful for you!

November 7, 2011

2011-11-07T12:45:00.003-05:00

Today I am thankful for Theraflu, pie & Motrin. But mostly pie.

November, 6, 2011

2011-11-06T17:40:00.000-05:00

Today I am thankful for my MOM.
My mother, my mommy, my friend.
Today is her birthday. Happy birthday mom!!! I won't share your age. But you don't look it!!!
My sister flew in & we surprised her at my house.
We made a big scrapbook from family & friends to surprise her with ( a family tradition at big events) and all had dinner at my new house as a family.
My mom is amazing.
I love you mama.I hope you enjoyed your weekend!
xoxo

November 5, 2011

2011-11-05T11:41:00.000-04:00

Today I am thankful for family!

My family ROCKS. They are all smart, and funny & caring & compassionate & I am thankful to have not only had a super family of my parents & sister & extended relatives but to have started a new super fabulous family with The Man , our children & BOTH of our extended families!

November 4, 2011

2011-11-04T11:39:00.000-04:00

I am thankful for tea. Because I feel like crap & want to sleep all day but tea is helping me get through it all!!!!!

November 3, 2011

2011-11-03T11:47:00.000-04:00

Today I am thankful for microfiber, side sleeping pillows.
Thank you for always being just enough neck support while I sleep flat on my back, and holding my head at such a nice angle when I roll to the side.
I like your soft silk pillow case, even though I am not sure it is REALLY ion infused for silky smooth hair while I sleep, it feels nice anyway.
I like your punchiness, you always spring back despite taking the worst, and you never complain about morning breath.
I am very thankful for you, Mr. Pillow no matter how much or how little I see you on a nightly basis, you are always happy to see ME.

November 2, 2011

2011-11-02T13:13:00.000-04:00

Today I am thankful for my families health.

Andy had a school physical yesterday & a booster shot. He sobbed in such a dramatic way, I can not lie. I laughed. Don't worry, it was short & I was holding & kissing him while doing it.
Poor guy. It was pretty awful.I had promised no shots. Oops.

I just got off the phone with the Childrens Hospital, we set up a speech evaluation for Ryan.

The Man went to a routine check up yesterday & switched to my amazing family doctor that I use for myself & I had a visit with her the day before.

Our insurance finally covered more than half (Their $36 to my $32!) of a prescription for the first time EVER since we've switched to it. Talk about a mile stone, their $26 to my $88 every damn month....

If these are our biggest medical & health problems, we're pretty freaking lucky.

I'm thankful for that.

November 1, 2011

2011-11-01T17:39:00.000-04:00

Day 1 of November Thankfulness,

I am thankful for a safe family! We had a small fire/electrical fire scare last night & shew, no matter how small things turn out to be, that is scary!

I am thankful for a fast, smart husband & 2 little boys who listen very well when it comes to it!