I have been a big fan of the Listerine strips for years. I was asked a while back to review some Listerine products, and included in the packet that I received was my favorite breath strips, which were nothing new to me.

On a recent trip to the store, I needed to restock these strips, which I keep in my purse, my car console, and my desk drawer. I always live in fear that I will offend someone with bad breath, because WE ALL have been offended by someone with bad breath before! So, I was pleasantly surprised to find the new flavor of Arctic Blast. I love it. The taste is not as strong tasting as the mint or arctic blast. And I must admit I have never tried the cinnamon flavor. That does not appeal to me at all.

But if you are looking for something to freshen your breath, which dissolves immediately so you are not left sucking a breath mint or chewing gum, this is the thing to look for.

And Listerine, if you are listening, you should have these strips placed at the checkout counter where all the breath mints and gum are sold. I think keeping these in the toothpaste area is losing you money. You’re welcome.

I love getting an inspiring quote first thing in the morning to start my day off.  When my son started college, I emailed him a quote every day. Sometimes they were funny, sometimes they were inspirational, sometimes they were just deep thoughts. I don’t think he enjoyed it nearly as much as I did. I guess you could probably say that was my way of blogging back then, although blogging hadn’t been invented. Not to my knowledge anyway.

And now all these years later, we have an app for that! The Positive Thinking app sends me a daily quote straight to my iPhone every day. It never fails to  make me smile.

You can choose to receiving a notification every day with a positive quote at the time you select. You can also use the app for a specific quote or motivation you need. It’s a great app, and an added bonus that it’s free!

Man-oh-man do I love spaghetti. My husband used to make spaghetti every Tuesday. My son sometimes still refers to spaghetti Tuesday. I have never thought to add cream cheese to it. My favorite ingredient that makes anything better is cream cheese. Here’s a fabulous recipe from plainchicken.com.

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole

• 12 oz spaghetti
• 1 (28 ounce) jars prepared spaghetti sauce
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

In a skillet, brown the ground beef until cooked through; drain fat and stir in spaghetti sauce.  Set aside.

Cook spaghetti according to directions on packet.  Drain and place cooked spaghetti in bowl.  Add cream cheese, Italian Seasoning and minced garlic.  Stir until cream cheese is melted and the spaghetti is thoroughly coated.

Lightly grease a 9×13″ pan.  Spread a small amount of meat sauce in the bottom of the dish.  Put spaghetti on top of sauce and top with remaining meat sauce.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

This is a fail for me. I really hate to diss a product, but until Burt’s Bees can redesign the packaging of this super thick cream, I won’t be repurchasing it. It is just too dang thick. As in it is VERY difficult to squeeze out of the tube.

Don’t get me wrong, the stuff is good, and when I use it, and put my little gloves on at night to let it soak in, my hands feel remarkable the next day. It’s just the packaging. If you can get over the fact that you may actually squeeze too hart and actually shoot a glob of lotion across the room, look for said glob and you can’t find it, until the next morning when you realize that you stepped in it and it has soaked into your carpet all night, then go ahead. Feel free. Yeah, it actually happened!