Family Briefs

One day in the midst of feeling overwhelmed about all the things around the house I needed to do, I stumbled across a great blog post that really spoke to me (because catching up on blog reading is the thing to do when no one has clean underwear). Her feelings about Christmas - honey, I’m all there. Ahem . . . ‘course we still have an Easter basket and a bag full of empty Easter eggs cluttering the countertop.

So what is my problem? If it feels so good to get rid of the clutter, why do I have so much of it!????? The problem lies in that few Read the rest of this entry »

You know all those little pre-packaged fruit snacks? They come in all shapes - princess, Dora, smiley faces, and on and on - the manufacturers make these VERY appealing to little people! I don’t buy them, however, citing to my kids that “it’s not on the list so we’re not buying it.”

These little packages simply don’t provide any snack-worthy benefits, and the dentist says they are awful because these little sugary “snacks” stick to kids’ teeth. So, we only enjoy these “fruit snacks” when they are included in a birthday goody bag or the kids go to grandma’s house. I wish there were a REAL fruit snack that the kids enjoyed as much . . .

Ta da! Here enters Doug with Jerky.com. Doug contacted me about trying some of his products and reviewing them, and you know how I’m all about FREEBIES! He sent me some pineapple jerky for us to sample. The kids quickly devoured it, and my husband almost didn’t get to try it. I salvaged a package for him so he could share his thoughts on it too.

With four children, we’re on a pretty tight budget these days and I was disappointed to find that the pineapple jerky wasn’t $1/box like at the grocery store. Of course, it’s much better for you - why is it that it costs so much to eat healthy?? Well, that’s my soap box for another time. Anyhoo, where was I . . . oh yes, my budget. We buy pineapple every week, have a food dehydrator and decided we could duplicate Doug’s creation - I mean, the label says the only two ingredients are pineapple and honey. How hard could it be?

Apparently they have a magical brew there at Jerky.com. Our jerky just didn’t measure up . . . it fell flat. So, guess we’ll splurge every now and then . . . ‘course with Father’s Day coming up, I should have already ordered one of their Beef Jerky Gift Baskets. You have to splurge a little on fabulous fathers, right? I’m really eyeballing this one. Reckon’ they could get it here in time? I’m off to order!