RubBits? Why Yes, Thank You

Tweet It's that time again- this month's Hip Mountain Mama product review is for a really super cute product called RubBits. They're all natural loofah sponges for the kitchen, bathroom, car, anywhere! 

Reading the label on these babies is amazing- simply by purchasing a cute lil bucket of kitchen sponges, you are ensuring that farmers in under-developed countries have a sustainable crop to help feed their families in addition to earning an income. Did you have any idea that young loofah is an edible vegetable? You learn something new every day! Loofah can be harvested several times in the growing season before the final loofahs are left on the vine to dry and be turned into these brightly colored, fun scrubbers. And Loofah-Art also provides educational support to their workers children, helping the kids to stay out of the fields and in the classroom.
And if you really needed ANOTHER reason to purchase these guys, they work really well. They are thick and sturdy, and can be used just about anywhere (I've used them on dishes, counters and the floor so far). I like having the assorted colors so my husband doesn't scrub the dishes with the sponge I used to scrape marshmallow off the floor (which he will anyway). When you're finished with the scrubbers, they're bio-degradable and compostable. While I can't guarantee that cleaning will be any more enjoyable (because we ALL know how I feel about that), Not Blessed Mama definitely gives them two thumbs up. 

As always, these words are my own and not bought or paid for in any way. Although if someone wants to buy and pay for my opinions, seriously, let me know!

Wordless Wednesday... And A Few Words

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Why?

Because.

Wordless Wednesday... And A Few Words

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Yes, that is my child. 

Not Blesssed Mama's Unwanted And Unsolicited Product Review: The Ove Glove

Tweet Last night I was having a bit of a rough night. I was a little off.  I decided (stupidly) to make Not Blessed Daddy buffalo wings to thank him for being patient while I had my crazy mom's group over. (I love you ladies, do not be bothered that I called you crazy. Readers, when N.B.Daddy walked in the door he had a crowd of rowdy ladies ready to throw dollar bills at him in exchange for some sexy dancing- he promptly ran into the bedroom, mortified and maybe even a little scared).
ANYWHO, I decided to make him real buffalo wings, deep fried and tossed in rich, buttery sauce. Which is a lot of freaking work, but I am a good wife. So I dragged out the big fryer, cleaned it, fried some wings and put a big bowl on the stove to melt some butter . I turned the burner on, as I always do, but I guess I was a bit scatterbrained. I was tired, and getting a cold. I left the bowl on too long, and when I quickly shut off the burner and poured the hot sauce in, THE BOWL EXPLODED. It didn't just crack, it shattered and pieces flew everywhere (no Mamas were harmed in the making of this post). It was wonderful. Shards and sauce dripped down below my one big burner. I picked off some pieces with the tongs, trying to spill as little of the sauce as possible. But what about the little pieces that I couldn't get to?

ENTER THE OVE GLOVE!

I have to say something awful. When my grandmother gave me the Ove Glove a few years ago for Christmas, I laughed. I thought it was another silly As-Seen-On-TV item. But I cannot tell you how many times I have used that thing! It is legitimately useful. We've used it with the BBQ, I used it with this wonky Wilton huge cupcake pan I got (that cooked everything really unevenly), and now it came into play during The Great Hot Sauce Debacle of 2011. You can even see in the photo the orange stains from the buffalo sauce. 

So Ove Glove, I salute you. You are truly a wonderful product and you have protected my fingers well on many occasions. Therefore Not Blessed Mama gives you a big thumbs up. 

I'd like to add that before I wiped up all the hot sauce, I tried to hard boil a pot of eggs on the same burner- causing the hot sauce to ignite. I mean, it was really on fire. I pulled the pot off with tongs as flames were shooting up around it and threw a wet towel on. It took a few seconds for the fire to go out, and I tossed some water on top of the towel. Very scary indeed. But the really super duper best part of this is that I put the pot of eggs onto a different burner to finish cooking, and boiled all the water out of the pot- not noticing until I heard it sizzling and hissing. I tell you, it was a rough night. 

Disclaimer: I did not receive a free Ove Glove (or anything else for that matter) to write this post, and it is really starting to get irritating. Come on companies, send me free stuff. 

Happy Friday

Tweet Not Blessed Mama started out this week full of enthusiasm, ready to jump back into the blogging world. Monday went well...... then something horrible happened Tuesday, which sapped my desire for posting. I was devastated.  My laptop died a quick and painful death after Spawn#3 spilled water on it (and risked his life in the process). Fortunately a day or two in the rice bin saved my laptop! Talk about relief.  

But now Spawn#3 is sick, and I'm exhausted, so I'm still not posting. But I wanted to pop in and say hi, and have a lovely weekend!

Baked on lollipop=1 Not Blessed Mama=0

Well played, baked on lollipop. Well played. 

Five Weird Things You Probably Didn't Want To Know About Me

Tweet  1. When I'm eating, I need my food to be even. Say if there are different components to a dish (like meat, lettuce, cheese in a taco), I need there to be some of each part in every bite. If I was eating ice cream from the carton, I would try and make the ice cream stay level by eating from each side. Same for a piece of cake. I don't like my food to touch either. Hey, I said I was weird. 


2. If I find food crumbs on the ground or in the kids room, I often will throw them in the toilet and leave them for Not Blessed Dad to discover. Why? I really couldn't tell you. Sometimes stuff starts looking really weird, which is oddly satisfying. Only once did he comment- "What, did someone forget to flush after they pooped?"- which was a big let-down.


3. I barely watch any tv, I just don't like it. But sometimes I will start watching a show and get really involved in it, and I don't even know why. I don't have any shows at the moment, but past favorites have been Sons of Anarchy, Deadliest Catch, True Blood, Nip/Tuck, and Iron Chef (the original- 'cuz I'm old school). 


4. I only wear 2 hats. This itself is not odd, but they are both hats that look like cat heads. I think this may be odd. 

This is my new one, but mine is white. Uh, the hat. 

5. I don't refer to any of the bedrooms in the house as mine. People always laugh when I refer to the master bedroom as my husbands- but I'm a bed-hopper. We're breastfeeding-co-sleeping-attachment-parenting people, so I always have Spawn#3 sleeping with me (he's three, almost 4). Sometimes I sleep in N.B.Daddy's room with Spawn#3. Sometimes I sleep in Spawn#1's room with his siblings- sometimes, I sleep with Spawn#2 and #3 in Spawn#2's room. It's complicated. And not. 

Now, what about you, my dear mama friends? I'd love to hear about how weird you are, or about how I'm the only one. If you post your list, link up here so I can be sure to read it!

Am I Really Going To Blog About Cleaning Again?

Tweet Yes, I really am going to blog about cleaning again. I know I've done it here and complained about laundry here and I even guest blogged about it here. But I can't stop complaining- cleaning is the bane of my existence. It darkens my days and haunts my nights- or something like that.
The holidays were especially brutal, which is normal- but my genius idea to replace the flooring in my living room right after Christmas really compounded matters. My house looked something like this-

Of course this isn't actually my house, my house was much worse than this. To this day we still barely have a room that you can walk through, and the poor Spawn are out of clean clothes. I actually encouraged Spawn#3 to wear his Transformers costume to the store today so I wouldn't have to go searching for clothes.

SO, my question is this- Mothers, how do you keep your houses clean? And don't go giving me the same old advice- I've tried all the stand-bys like threatening physical violence, duct tape, etc. I know there is some secret that I do not know. There has to be. Can't someone clue me in? When I go to other people's houses you can see their floors. How can one attain such a state of nirvana that is clean floors?

Other than cleaning all day and bitching at your kids, that is. I've tried those too. There's got to be a better way.