I readily admit I am a shower junkie. I love to take long, hot showers with lots of beauty accoutrements at my disposal. I picked up the Lush Rub Rub Rub on a recent outing with my sister, because I was out of body scrub. And this time of year, I need to keep everything exfoliated. It has a pleasant smell too, kind of a citrus/fresh/tropical combo. And a little goes a long way. Which is a good thing because it is a little pricey at $22 for the 11.6 ounce container. This is definitely something I will ask for as a gift in the future. My husband always says I buy everything before he can purchase for me as a gift so he’s asked me to keep a list this year. Boy will he be sorry – he’s going to get a list as long as Santa!

From Lush:

Rub Rub Rub is a bit of a variation on the normal shower gel. For one, it’s so thick we put it into a tub for handy scooping in the shower. Secondly, it’s a bright blue, supremely softening, exfoliating sea salt shower scrub to revive your skin. Sea salt is extra cleansing, mineral-rich and softening for the body; you can even use it as a shampoo in a pinch! Our rubby scrub is startlingly refreshing, with a dash of lemon juice and the tropical scent of mimosa blossoms for a light, blossom-scented wash and smoother skin.

My son is getting married and my only responsibility is to throw a kick-ass rehearsal dinner. We have already decided on a Mexican restaurant for the location. Naturally each table will need to be decorated, so instead of spending hundreds of dollars on flower arrangements, I went scouring the internet for something cute. I hit the jackpot at bargainbunch.com, and purchased these adorable lanterns for $7 each. Free shipping! Yay me! I plan on spray painting them in bright colors like yellow and green and then using some Mexican hot sauce jars and/or Mexican beer bottles for some flowers I plan on picking up at a wholesale flower shop. It will be a DIY table arrangement sort of thing, but don’t you worry, I’ve already recruited little helpers. I’ll have everything ready to go and will try and remember to send you all a picture of how it turns out. It’s not until October, so I could forget between now and then!

Anyway, back to this great website. Not only do they have pages and pages AND PAGES of different lanterns to choose from, they have all sorts of stuff for your house, inside and out. Here are just a few of some other great things I found just looking at their site.

Love this bathroom cabinet for $78! I purchased two for my bathroom years ago for over $200 each!

Adorable canopy for $12!!!

Small accent mirror for $24.

Cast iron birdbath for $49. My husband could get this for me for my birthday! Hint-hint!!!

I love a bargain as you all should know by now, and I love bargainbunch.com now too.

We purchased the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker for $25 at our local superstore right before Christmas. I honestly thought it couldn’t possibly be as simple as it appeared, or work well, for $25. Yep, I was wrong.

This little doozy takes up so little room, and works so simple and easy. I actually found 100 calorie English Muffins, and that, with an egg, and sometimes a little cheese and/or Canadian bacon, and viola! I have a great filling breakfast in less than five minutes. I actually set my oven timer after I have the sandwich ready to start cooking, because sadly there is no timer included on the sandwich maker. Then I go about getting my coffee and other things ready in the morning and come back to have a yummy breakfast sandwich. And I promise you it is better than McDonalds, or any other drive through for breakfast. Plus a lot healthier!

And the clean up is so easy. It really just needs a damp cloth wipe down and you are done. Added bonus is it is dishwasher safe.

From Hamilton Beach:

Control What’s Inside Your Breakfast Sandwich
Do you really know what’s inside all those restaurant, drive-thru, and store-bought sandwiches? Thanks to the Breakfast Sandwich Maker by Hamilton Beach, wondering about questionable or mysterious ingredients is no longer an issue. That’s because starting now, you can quickly and easily make a breakfast sandwich with your own fresh ingredients. Just preheat the Breakfast Sandwich Maker, add your choice of ingredients, and in five minutes or less, breakfast is ready.

Go Healthy or Hearty, Depending on Your Mood
If you want to explore healthy breakfast alternatives and eat less processed food, the Breakfast Sandwich Maker by Hamilton Beach is the perfect choice. Your sandwiches could include whole-grain English muffins or bagels, low-fat cheese, egg whites, and your choice of veggies, lean meat, or a vegetarian option. On the other hand, when you want to indulge in a satisfying, protein-packed sandwich, the Breakfast Sandwich Maker is ready to oblige. To make this kind of breakfast sandwich, use a whole egg and layer on your favorite cheese and meat. You can even use a pancake as the bread and pour syrup on your finished sandwich. What you make and how you eat it is completely up to you.

Make Breakfast Sandwiches The Easy Way
If you’ve ever prepared breakfast sandwiches at home, you know that it’s a multi-step process requiring more than one pan and a toaster for the bread. And that means you’ll have to clean multiple pans, too. On mornings when you have extra time and energy to spare, that’s fine. But what about mornings when you don’t? You can still whip up a delicious breakfast, thanks to the five-minute cooking time and easy cleanup of the Breakfast Sandwich Maker.

Unlimited Ingredient & Taste Combinations
The versatility of combining fresh ingredients makes the Breakfast Sandwich Maker the perfect breakfast solution for people of all ages. You can customize every sandwich to the person, child, day of the week, or mood. People who own one say that they have fun experimenting with different foods and flavors to make unique sandwich combinations. However, if you’re not inclined to make up your own breakfast sandwich recipe, you’re in luck. Try out one of these delicious breakfast sandwich recipes, which were taken from the Breakfast Sandwich Maker recipe collection at www.hamiltonbeach.com.

Egg, Ham, and Cheese Breakfast Sandwich
1 English muffin, split
1 slice American cheese
1 slice precooked Canadian bacon or ham
1 large egg, lightly scrambled

Preheat Breakfast Sandwich Maker until green READY light comes on. Lift cover, top ring, and cooking plate. Place bottom half of English muffin, split-side up, in bottom ring of Breakfast Sandwich Maker. Top with cheese and Canadian bacon. Lower cooking plate and top ring. Add egg to cooking plate. Top with remaining muffin half, split-side down. Close cover. Cook 4 to 5 minutes. Slide out cooking plate by rotating handle clockwise. Lift cover and rings; carefully remove sandwich with plastic spatula.

Pancakes and Sausage Sandwich
2 (4-inch) frozen pancakes
1 precooked thin sausage patty
1 large egg, lightly scrambled
Maple syrup

Preheat Breakfast Sandwich Maker until green READY light comes on. Lift cover, top ring, and cooking plate. Place one frozen pancake in bottom ring of Breakfast Sandwich Maker. Top with sausage. Lower cooking plate and top ring. Add egg to cooking plate. Top with remaining pancake. Close cover. Cook 4 to 5 minutes. Slide out cooking plate by rotating handle clockwise. Lift cover and rings; carefully remove sandwich with plastic spatula.

Cheddar, Apple, Bacon, and Egg Croissant Sandwich
1 mini croissant, halved
2 Tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese
1 to 2 thin slices Granny Smith apple
1 slice precooked bacon, cut in half
1 large egg, lightly scrambled

Preheat Breakfast Sandwich Maker until green READY light comes on. Lift cover, top ring, and egg cooking plate. Place bottom half of croissant, cut-side up, in bottom ring of Breakfast Sandwich Maker. Top with cheese, apple slices, and bacon. Lower cooking plate and top ring. Add egg to cooking plate. Top with remaining croissant half, cut-side down. Close cover. Cook 4 to 5 minutes. Slide out cooking plate by rotating handle clockwise. Lift cover and rings; carefully remove sandwich with plastic spatula.

Easy Cleanup
Unplug unit when finished cooking and allow to cool. Use a plastic or wooden utensil to loosen any baked-on ingredients. To remove the ring assembly for cleaning in the dishwasher or by hand, hold bottom handle to open, then lift straight up. Do not use the “SANI” setting when washing in the dishwasher. “SANI” cycle temperatures could damage your product. Wipe top and bottom heating plates and the outside of the unit with a damp, soapy cloth; dry thoroughly.

For easier cleanup, spray rings and cooking plate with nonstick spray before use and after washing.

Product Usage Tips
Extra-large eggs or very cold ingredients may lengthen cooking time. Higher-fat content bread, fewer ingredients, scrambled eggs, egg whites, and precooked ingredients may shorten cooking time.

Do not use appliance unattended. Close supervision is necessary when any appliance is used by or near children. During use, provide 4 to 6 inches of air space above, behind, and on both sides for air circulation. Unplug from outlet when not in use.

Try not to be too disappointed to not get an app this week. I just wanted to share a quick tip I figured out over the Christmas holidays. Most of you probably have already figured this out but just humor me, okay?

I have an iPhone and an iPad and I love to send text messages and emails to all my friends and family. Around Christmas-time, I was irritated that every time I typed the word “Christmas” the device would not capitalize the first letter as it often does with other words. So I went into my settings, then to general settings, then to keyboard settings, then to shortcuts. I entered Christmas to be always capitalized. I also FINALLY fixed my LOL problem.  Every time I typed LOL it came out “Lol”. It irritated me. So I changed that to always change to LOL, and then went a step further to the popular ROFLMAO. I also removed the copyright symbol that would appear if I just typed the letter C.

An added benefit was that when I went to make the changes to my iPad, the changed had already been made on it! I only had to do this to one device. Gotta love the iCloud!

Now I am happy, happy, happy. If you have a word or phrase, or acronym that your smartphone is always auto correcting to something you don’t want, or not correcting something you think should be corrected, just go to your settings and fix it! Problem solved.