Thursday Things

Today is the start of a long weekend around here.  At least for some of us.  My son has two days off from school, and my in-laws are visiting.  My husband still has to work though, so I guess he misses out!  But I am definitely taking advantage, and taking some time to relax.  The weather is supposed to be in the 70’s and gorgeous around here too.  So we will even be able to get outside.  Something you definitely can’t take for granted this time of year.

1.  These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars have always been one of our favorites.  I finally got around to updating the pictures on the recipe.  So head over, and check it out.  Great pumpkin recipe to try this year!

2.  Are you on Pinterest?  Have you noticed how your feed has changed?  Well Pinterest has been doing some work behind the scenes to try to figure out what you want to see, and show you that.  It isn’t always right though.  For me, I would rather see the stuff I have always followed.  If you are the same way, follow these instructions to have your feed revert back to the old way.  I am not sure if this is 100% accurate, I just discovered it today, and updated my settings.

Go to your Pinterest profile and click on the gear icon at the top right of your main profile box.

A box will drop down – select “Account Settings”

On the section labeled “Personalization” select NO for both options

Click “Save Changes”

3.  Do you struggle to figure out dinner, and get it made each night?  I try to share tons of great 20-30 minute dinner ideas with you, but sometimes you are just busy and need all the planning and preparation taken out of it.  Well, I have found Dream Dinners.  It is a great alternative for busy weeks.  I had the opportunity to try out their service, and I am really impressed.  They have a menu online and you can select which entrees you want (the menu changes each month).  Then you can either go in and assemble all of the “kits” yourself.  Or, you can pay a little fee and have them do all the work for you.  So all you have to do is show up, and pick up a box of all your meals.  They can go straight to your freezer, and then you just take out which one you want each day.  They come with cooking instructions and are all very minimal amount of work.  So far we have tried a few of them, and have been really impressed with the taste and preparation.  Be sure to check out the Dream Dinners site to see if there is a location near you.  They even have a great feature where you can get alerts on your phone for to remind you when to take stuff out of the freezer to thaw.  Completely takes all of the guess work, and planning out of the equation!

Photo Credit: Dream Dinners

4.  We went up to the mountains last weekend, where winter was pretty much in full swing.  I am so not ready for snow!  But, it is near 80 here this week, and I am ready for that to be done.  I want to have soup and fresh bread!

5.  We have been dealing with a mouse problem at our house.  A few of them found their way into our grill.  Trying to trap them and remove them has proved difficult.  We caught 1 within 30 minutes of putting out the first trap.  The the rest of them have been eating the peanut butter, and not setting off the trip.  My husband and son are convinced we have the Einstein of mice living in our yard.  Yesterday, we finally managed to trap a few more of them.  Hoping that is the last of them!  At some point, I would like to be able to actually use my grill again!

** I received a gift card to try out Dream Dinners.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.