valentine's day à la tiny prints.

i've professed my love for tiny prints before and, here i am, professing my love for their super cute, personalized cards once again. valentine's day is fast approaching and i love being able to send my children to school with sweet notes and cards for their classmates and teachers. personally, if you ask me, i think valentine's day is overrated, but it think it's such a fun holiday for children.

ask anyone who is a fan of tiny prints and they'll tell you: the selection of cards is amazing. once again, tiny prints has outdone themselves with their section of valentine cards. tiny prints doesn't just offer valentine's day greeting cards, but you can also get photo cards and party invitations, too, each with a valentine's day theme.

it's hard to choose just one card that would be perfect for either of my children's classmates, but here are a few of the designs that we are currently in love with...

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my daughter is quite the baker and is in love with cupcakes, so this would be the perfect card for her to share with her classmates this valentine's day. 

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and another valentine's day card contender...another cupcake themed card! the simplicity of this design is perfect for exchanging with classmates.

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this option is great for my son who isn't quite into all of the lovey-dovey valentine's day cards. i like that this card - in addition to all of the tiny prints valentine's day cards - is different from what you'll find in your nearest discount store.

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and we just loved this fortune cookie valentine's day card. it's perfect for both my daughter & son to share with their classmates.  

like what you're seeing? then i urge you to check out all of the valentine's day cards that tiny prints has to offer.  in addition, you can follow tiny prints on twitter, facebook & pinterest. check them out!

disclaimer: in exchange for a blog post showcasing their valentine's day collection, tiny prints is giving me 50 free kids valentine's day cards of my choice. all opinions in this post are my own & tiny prints did not influence my opinion or the wording of this blog post.

guest post: polka dot mani

hey y'all! i'm so excited to have my friend, andrea, from my chihuahua bites guest posting on the blog today. she's talking about something near & dear to my heart: nail polish. for as long as i can remember, i've always loved a mani that was different and what andrea has created is so fun & i cannot wait to recreate her look on my own nails. 

enjoy!!

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Hey friends! I’m so excited to be guest posting on Stuttering Shell today. I’m Andrea, a 30 something mommy addicted to Sephora, makeup brushes, reality TV, and nail polish. I found Michelle on Twitter through a friend, and I soon realized we have a ton in common - we share of a love of nail polish, k-cups, and Lis.

I haven’t always been into nail polish. Up until about a year ago, I was strictly a special occasion mani type of girl. I didn’t polish my nails at home, and on the rare occasion I did, I ran around with polish smeared all over my fingers and cuticles.

Not cute.

About 6 months ago, I picked up some Sally Hansen polish from Wal-Mart and decided to carpe diem and give myself a mani. I learned to erase my polish mistakes with q-tips and acetone, and I’ve never looked back. I don’t know what got into me that day, but I’ve had polish on my nails every day since. I’m about to enter Nail Polish Addicts, as my polish collection is starting to get quite out of control.

Today I want to share a fun (and easy!) Valentine’s Day mani with you. Polka dots are one of the easiest forms of nail art, and you can do it to your nails with stuff you already have at home.

I apologize in advance for the pictures – it is impossibly hard to take pictures of yourself with only one hand.

You’ll need the following tools:

• Red, white, and pink nail polish
• A dotting tool – mine came from Sally’s, but you could also use a pointed q-tip or even a toothpick.

I’ll share the exact brands/names of the polishes at the end of the post.

Start by painting the ring finger of each hand with two coats of pink polish. Paint the rest of your nails with two coats of white polish.

Let your nails fully dry; however, do not yet apply a top coat.  Drop 2 dots of each color of polish onto a paper plate. You can see I have a dot of red, white, and pink on the plate.

Using your dotting tool, q-tip, or toothpick pick up a small amount of polish on the tip of your tool. Start with pink; gently dot in a random pattern all over your white nails. Leave room for red dots!

After you’ve applied the pink polka dots, wipe off your tool (or get a new q-tip!) and start with red dots.  Apply to both the white and pink ring finger nails.

Now it’s time for the white! The white dots only go on your pink ring fingers.  Seal off your mani with a top coat, and you’re done! 

Enjoy your polka dot nails!

Base Coat: OPI Nail Envy & Seche Base Ridge Filling Base Coat

Pink: OPI Pink Friday

White: OPI Alpine Snow

Red: China Glaze Poinsettia

Top Coat: INM Out The Door 

my eight year old eats what?

so there is a pretty popular book circulating the parenting set about expanding your child's particular palate. i haven't read it, so please forgive me if what i'm about to say seems harsh but...

do you really need to read a book to figure out how to get your picky eater to eat?

in my opinion, no. i believe that picky parents produce picky children. why? well, if you don't like it, what makes you think your child is going to like it? i was raised by parents who believed that you ate what you were given. if you didn't like it, you either sat there until you ate it or you went hungry. and - surprise, surprise - i am raising my children the same way. 

i'm not a short order cook. my kitchen is not a restaurant. there is a menu, but there is only one thing on it: you get what you get & you don't throw a fit.

don't get me wrong, there are things my children choose not to eat. malia refuses to eat tomatoes, brussel sprouts & blueberries. aidan also doesn't care for brussel sprouts {but he'll eat them...reluctantly}. but, what my children will and do eat amazes people. i've blogged about it before, but my children are actually quite adventurous when it comes to food. i think a lot of that is due to the fact that adam & i are not picky eaters and are quite adventurous ourselves. are we foodies? i guess so. but, i do the draw the line at certain things and - more often than not - my children surprise me and show that they are more adventurous than i am when it comes to culinary deliciousness. 

case in point...

{gotta love a blurry cell phone pic}

that picture above? that's aidan eating a duck foot. yes, a duck foot. and, that particular duck foot was wrapped in a skin made from tofu. there was also taro root & steamed shrimp inside {my father & i joked that was the duck's toe jam}. 

i know, i know...ew, right? i don't even eat duck feet. but, aidan wasn't made to eat it. we were at our favorite dim sum spot in boston. my mom ordered them and we asked the kids, "do you want to try one?" malia said no. aidan said sure. i always tell my kids to give something a shot before they decide they don't like it, especially when it comes to food. this is what aidan did and guess what? he liked the duck foot.

so, while some of you are battling the "i only want chicken nuggets" blues, don't get frustrated. instead, get smart. hell, outsmart your child. stop catering. serve what you are eating. your child might surprise you. but, if you're picky, well, i don't know what to tell you. this mama doesn't do picky.

p.s. food allergies and other sensitivities do not count as being picky. 

gung hay fat choy.

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we're wearing red, eating noodles and celebrating the new year...again.

happy chinese new year, y'all!

psst...did you enter my giveaway?

coffee date & a giveaway.

before i catch you up on some of the yummy portion packs we've been indulging in, i want to let you know that you can get free shipping and 15% off your purchase at green mountain coffee by using the code
AM0016-3605. this code is good until february 29th.
{no minimum purchase required & offer is valid in the u.s. only}

once upon a time, i referred to myself as the ambassador of coffee quan.
of course, anyone who owns a keurig might think of themselves in the same way. 

but, you & i both know that the keurig is not just for coffee lovers.

one of my family's favorite portion packs is the hot apple cider.

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made from real apples, this is a warm, refreshing drink that the whole family enjoys. my children love that it's an alternative to hot chocolate and they have a lot of fun using the keurig to make a cup. the hot apple cider portion packs are available year round.

another favorite are the fair trade coffees.

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the sumatran reserve is just one example of the variety of fair trade coffees offered at green mountain coffee. my husband and i loved the bold flavor of this blend. 

it's no secret that i love iced coffee. while it's convenient to swing into my favorite coffee shop and order an iced coffee to go, it is certainly cheaper to be able to make them at home. i'll admit...i was skeptical of the iced coffee portion packs at first. but, add in some hazelnut syrup and some half & half and i'm good to go.

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everyone i know how has a keurig has tried the donut house variety of portion packs. the flavor is familiar...it's described as "easy going, bold, and dependable."

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we enjoyed the "regular" variety of donut house, but we did not care for the cinnamon roll portion pack by donut house. my husband and i prefer bolder, stronger coffees and the cinnamon roll was a bit too weak for our taste.

for the holidays, we had the privilege of sampling two seasonal portion packs: spicy eggnog & gingerbread.

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my husband and i are not big fans of flavored coffees. yes, we'll use flavored creamers or add syrups to our coffee, but we prefer a nice, bold coffee taste for our coffee {if that makes any sense at all}. my father enjoyed the gingerbread coffee. it had a nice, spicy flavor and he enjoyed it black. the spicy eggnog's flavor, however, was inconsistent. sometimes it tasted like eggnog, sometimes it did not.

one seasonal flavor i did enjoy was the pumpkin spice. yum, yum!

perhaps the most favorite portion pack we've sampled thus far has been the barista prima variety: french roast, italian roast, house blend & colombia.

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out of the four varieties, the house blend was our least favorite. why? because it wasn't as bold as the other three. the italian roast was my husband's favorite. i preferred the french roast. both were smooth, bold and tasty. in many ways, the rich flavor reminded me a lot of the coffee we enjoy whenever we vacation in mexico.

and, if you've made it this far, you have the chance to win a four pack sampler of the barista prima variety {one serving of each blend}. and, as an added bonus, i'll even throw in a box of your favorite portion pack!

here's how to enter...
in a comment, let me know your favorite keurig portion pack.
for an extra entry, tweet about this giveaway. leave proof of the tweet in a separate comment.


please make sure to leave your email address in your comment so i have a way to contact you if you're the winner.

Winner will be announced on Friday, February 3rd!

disclosure:  i am a k-cup ambassador working in conjunction with green mountain coffee roasters & the your perfect cup program.  i was given all of the k-cups mentioned as compensation for my review.  all opinions in this review are my own. regarding the giveaway, the barista prima sampler has been provided by green mountain roasters. the bonus portion pack will be paid for and provided by me.

lilo prints giveaway winner.

i'm pleased to announce the winner of the lilo prints giveaway...

suburban princess

i will put you in contact with lindsay so you can claim your custom print.

congratulations!

thank you to all who entered. i encourage you to contact lindsay for any & all of your custom print needs. 

p.s. more giveaways are coming. and, make sure you check out my post about homemade laundry detergent.

psst...giveaway winner was chosen using random.org. 

the one about laundry detergent.

i stopped buying & using store bought laundry detergent a few months ago.

my first attempt at making homemade laundry detergent was a success. i followed the recipe that just about everyone uses:

1 cup of borax
1 cup of washing soda
1 grated bar of soap like fels naptha

blend ingredients together in a food processor and use two tablespoons per load

i was pleasantly surprised by how effective this detergent was and how cheap it was to make. i made a second batch and i fell even more in love with homemade laundry detergent. i thought everything was perfect.

but then i read a blog post that made reference to another blog post...and my love for homemade laundry detergent was taken to a new level.

behold, gel-ish laundry detergent:

{detergent i gave to my favorite beach bum}

making this detergent used exactly the same recipe as the one above except i needed to use my stove instead of a food processor. i also needed a five gallon bucket. oh, and a lot of water.

for the exact specifics on how to make the detergent, please check out this blog post at she-laughs.

honestly, making the detergent took no more than a half an hour one evening. i did require my husband's help {he poured the hot detergent mixture into the five gallon bucket for me while i stirred}. and, i'll be honest, i had a hard time waiting the full twenty-four hours for the detergent to congeal. but, the payoff has been great...and bountiful, too!

{that funny looking spot towards the bottom of the picture? yeah, i stuck my hand in the jelly-like detergent.}

{i now have five gallons of laundry detergent}

yes, you read right...five gallons of laundry detergent. well, it's close enough to five gallons. five gallons equals to 640 ounces {correct me, please, if i'm wrong!}. do you know what it cost me to make this much laundry detergent? less than $2. say what?!

i realize prices will vary by state and store, but those pictures above show what i paid for each item at my local wally world. and, just so you know, the five gallon bucket cost me roughly $5 from the home depot. so, yeah, for less than $2 {$7ish if you count the bucket} and about a half an hour of my time i have an approximately six month supply of laundry detergent. six months. y'all, i was spending like $20 a month or so on detergent {i do a lot of laundry}. 

my thoughts:

• this detergent cleans well. i'm going to start adding in a scoop of washing soda for an added boost. you can use oxyclean, but clearly, washing soda is cheaper.
• i call this detergent gel-ish because it is. honestly, it reminds me of chunky snot {hey, i'm a mom}. you have to stir the detergent after it sets for the initial 24 hour period. i can't seem to get the chunks out. but, the chunks don't take away from the detergent...it just makes for some interesting pouring.
• this detergent is safe for high efficiency/front loading machines. speaking of h.e./front loaders, my washer has two loading options for detergent, one for powder and one for liquid. i use the powder option.
• i try not to go into the five gallon bucket in an effort to keep it air tight. i keep a stash of the detergent in a smaller container on my washing machine. i was asked if this will mold or mildew. i honestly don't know. 
• call me crazy, but i've noticed a change in my skin since using homemade laundry detergent. i don't have sensitive skin, but i would guess that this detergent is safe for everyone to use.

if you're feeling adventurous and looking to rev up your budget and be more conscious of the products you are using, i urge you to make homemade laundry detergent. if you don't want to go the gel-ish route, definitely try the powder detergent {same ingredients, super easy to make}.

if you have any questions, just ask. i'll do my best to answer them. 

the nail files {1.20.12}

before i share with you my nails for the week, let me go back & touch upon a few things regarding the at home gel mani i blogged about last week.

1.  after hitting publish on that post, my nails started to chip. go figure. but, having polish last a week {with minimal wear} on my fingernails is a big deal. remember, i'm brutal on my hands. 

2.  i used regular nail polish remover to take it off. i didn't need to buy acetone. so, use whatever you have.

3.  a lot of people have asked...no uv light is necessary for that particular at home gel mani.

4.  i haven't used the polish that came with the gel mani set, but i plan on using it soon.

5.  for the price, i'll definitely give myself an at home gel mani again and again. it's so much more cheaper than going to the salon.

i visited my parents over the weekend & while i was there i raided my mother's nail polish stash. she's got quite the collection {she's probably the reason i'm hooked on polish...ha!}. you'll be happy to know that i finally jumped on board the single glitter nail train, too.

{again, excuse the janky cuticles & the crummy cell phone pics.}

what am i wearing?

opi's lucerne-tainly look marvelous 

&

opi's bring on the bling {for my glitter accent}

when we came home on monday, my daughter asked me to paint her nails like mine. so, she's rocking a similar look, except she's wearing orly's sea gurl & i used opi's rainbow connection for her glitter accent.

go link up with vicki & tara and share with us what you're wearing on your nails this week.

currently loving.

lush godiva shampoo bar & jungle solid conditioner

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colgate optic white toothpaste

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korres guava bath & body collection

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paper mate inkjoy 300 rt pens

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starbucks caffe verona k-cup portion packs

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what are you currently loving?

if you own a keurig or received one for the holidays, please come back to my blog tomorrow because i'm giving away a mini sampler pack of the barista prima k-cup portion pack {when i say mini, it's one sample of each of the four barista prima roasts}. also, if you need to stock up on portion packs, please take advantage of the code at the top of my blog!

guest post: i'm a writer.

i hope you enjoy this guest post written by one of my blog's sponsors, megg, from the life of a not so desperate housewife. i think a lot of you can relate to what she is sharing. i know her words resonated with me. enjoy!

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Recently my dad told me to "write boldly". It really made me think, and questions why I write a blog.

There are many people with many more followers. People who get many comments on each post they write. Then there's me, just muddling along. I get excited when I get one comment on a post that I write! But you know what? I don't write to get followers or comments, not that I mind either of those things. I write for myself.

It took me years to realize something about myself. I'm a writer at heart. It always amuses me, because my mom is a medical biller, and my dad is an engineer. My sister and I are both writers. In a previous life I was a reporter, and though I don't write now, it's in by blood, and I have to write.

It really isn't anything I ever thought about. Growing up I never thought to myself, I want to be a writer when I grow up, and yet I am. Even now, when I say I'm a writer, I almost feel odd, because to me a writer is someone who publishes books, and is famous.And yet, I am a writer.

Writing brought me my husband. I was working at a coffee shop, and I wasn't getting my writing fix, so I started an online, text-based game. The result? A wonderful friend who was in our wedding, and my wonderful husband. Shortly after we started dating, I got the reporter job, and my writing desire was fulfilled, again.

When I went back to school I wasn't writing, though I was focused on my school work, so I suppose I was distracted. After I graduated, I was home, alone, and bored. I turned to writing, and started a blog.

Writing is in my blood. I have to do it. I've been told that I'm a good writer, but I don't see it. I just write, the words flow, and I feel better. It's a part of me, and it always has been. While I love knowing that people read what I write (any writer does, I suppose) the most important thing for me is simply to write. To let the words flow. No matter what I'm doing it my life, in either my vocation or my avocation, I need to write.

I'm a writer.

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want to read more? subscribe or follow megg's blog, the life of a not so desperate housewife.

don't forget she's offering free shipping on purchases from her etsy shop, too! use the code: freeship10

psst...don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free print from lilo prints!