I wanted the Tampa Bay Bucs to win and this is why!! It is what it is 💁♀️
Well Super Bowl Sunday was a lot different this year than the last several years for me. Not only because of the whole Covid thing but also because of the snow. I had decided I wanted Moe’s Southwestern Grill this year because I love tacos 🌮 and my girls love their queso dip. It had started snowing around 11am and was starting to get bad so I was afraid they would close early due to the weather and decided to leave around 4:30pm in hopes to get there before they closed. I made it there right before 5pm and I walked in the door and instead of hearing ‘Welcome to Moe’s’, I heard ‘I’m sorry we are closed’ 😡😖. Why was the door unlocked if you’re closed, I mean really?!🙄 Needless to say I had to quickly come up with a different idea so I ended up ordering pizza 🍕.
So I’m the girl who actually likes watching football, it’s not just about the half time show for me which is good because I was highly disappointed. This year the game was great, looking at Tom Brady was even better, but the commercials were not great (same as last year)! So yet again it was hard to come up with a top 20 best commercials of Super Bowl 55 so I had to text Elena to help me come up with a top 15.
Here is what we came up with.
Top 15 Best Commercials
15. M&M
14. Doritos 3D ( I mean it’s Matthew McConaughey)
13. Dr. Squatch 😳
12. Pringles
11. Bud Light
10. Mt. Dew
9. State Farm
8. Bud Light Seltzer
7. Hellman’s Mayo
6. T. Mobile
5. Uber Eats
4. Chettos Pop Mix
3. GM
2. Cabela’s/Bass Pro Shops
1. T Mobile with Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski ( it wasn’t played but it should have been so google it 😉)
No better day then September 11th to share some patriotic, American made products and America loving businesses! And August was my birthday month so of course those who know me well stuck with my America theme! 🇺🇸
So many things to share so let’s get to it!
I’ve been hinting for months that I wanted Fox Nation and thankfully my husband actually listened. 😜 He signed me up for the subscription and I love it! I’ve watched a bunch of different shows/documentaries myself, but my son and I love Brian Kilmeade’s ‘What Made America Great’. Such an interesting and informative show. We’ve learned so much about our great nation. I had no idea the history behind the Vice Presidents house or the secret room in Mount Rushmore, and all the secrets hidden throughout the White House ….. episodes are short and we binge watch a few at a time. Especially great for teaching kids about our country in a fun way.
With my subscription came my next read….
I’m so excited to start this one! Great reviews and I recently watched the Dan Bongino podcast in which he interviewed Hannity about this book and it so timely. I just finished Dan Crenshaw’s book….
I can’t say enough good things about this book! So much good stuff on the current outrage culture, accountability and the softening of America. And before we move on from books I also got this one as a birthday present….
I love following Harris on Instagram. He cracks me up with his hats and airplane posts, and has so much good stuff to say. And his wife & daughters are absolutely gorgeous 💕 This one isn’t a really long read so I’m thinking it’s next for me.
As I previously mentioned we’ve added to our arsenal and with that decided to join the NRA. The free gift we chose with membership was the NRA pocket knife. Since I was little I’ve had a pocket knife obsession. I always had one in my pocket and would carve my initials in trees as I would climb to the top. I think I’ve passed that obsession on to my son and I’m usually stealing his to have one in my purse or my car. This one is small and can easily fit in my pocket or purse. Two downsides to this one though…1) the box says Made in China 😠 and 2) no clip to stick it on my jeans. So I’m in the market for my own (so I can give my son his back) that’s just the right size with a clip to attach to my waist band. Recommendations welcomed!
Next is another coffee company. Erin and I are both coffee lovers. So she knew she couldn’t go wrong with buying me coffee for my birthday. This coffee has been on my list to try as it is a veteran owned and operated company . Plus the packaging says it’s coffee for people who love America, and clearly that’s me🙋🏼♀️ This is the light roast and it is perfect!
Last for this post I want to share the new shirts both Erin and I ordered. We found an Etsy shop named Threadrock that makes some great patriotic gear out of NY. They have a ton of other stuff too but we were looking for some Thin Blue Line shirts. These are great quality, soft, women’s fit and shipped super quick. Erin ordered hers first and told me about it, I ordered and it arrived within 3 days.
I have so many more great products to share in the weeks ahead! We’ve had companies reach out to us about their products we should try and friends recommending businesses as well. So stay tuned there’s more to come and keep sending those recommendations our way!
Not too long ago I read American Crusade by Pete Hegseth. I caught a clip of him promoting it on air and knew it was a book I needed to read. I’ve gifted it to others, lent it out and recommend it to anyone who truly loves America. I finished the book and felt so strongly about being fierce in showing just how much I love America. There’s so much divisiveness right now but surely people can’t hate you or criticize you for loving America right?! Well that’s not really true these days, I don’t feel love for America from my neighbors, from people I see on Facebook, people on the streets, people on the news…but you know what – that’s their problem not mine.
Reading that book started me on this whole buy & support America crusade. I’ve bought an unknown 😬 amount of hats, shirts, jewelry and various home decor items all sporting the flag and red white & blue. And I want more! I want to show my pride for our country every day. And I’m not the only one. I lent the book to Erin and shortly after she was finished she began redecorating her home in red, white & blue 😂 I promise you it’s addictive. It will get you fired up and Americanism will be your new motto! 🇺🇸
As I’ve said before I have a tiny addiction to graphic t-shirts and tank tops. I recently ordered one and was hoping to have it for July fourth but it came late. I still love it and have already worn it a few times. I’m trying to support businesses other than the usual Amazon, and also making sure things are made in the USA. This company is also veteran owned & operated👏🏻. There are so many great things on their site! They even have patriotic masks, swimsuits and a monthly shirt subscription club.
And of course my awesome teardrop necklace is from Beads by Bella and for only $8!!!
We’ve been talking a lot about being able to protect ourselves. We don’t need to make up crazy scenarios because we are inundated with them on the news daily. Pregnant woman and husband attacked while trying to pull out of a restaurant, lady attacked in an airport, flight attendant attacked, people having to defend their homes and businesses…it’s like we’re living in a crazy end of the world movie. I’m sure you all heard the 911 call of the mother who couldn’t drive with her child in the car because ‘mostly peaceful’ protestors were banging on her car, blocking her and then trying to get in & on her car. It’s terrifying and as a mother it brought me to tears listening to her voice crack as she begged for someone to help. The thought of not being able to protect my kids, of my kids being scared in the backseat is heartbreaking. We have guns and plan to carry but some scenarios obviously don’t call for shooting people ….as much as I may want to 😬. So we need alternative measures. What can you really do in this situation? I know the laws are different in each state and I also know if my family is in danger I want to do what I can to protect us. So I ordered pepper spray to keep in my car & purse. Not only did I order pepper spray but I ordered a patriotic spray bottle made in America! It’s a really cute little bottle, which is why I immediately gathered my children around to explain it is not a toy. My parents had given me one of these little bottles when I was in college, it’s definitely a must have for young women especially!
Some days I look online and I feel a little angry that others aren’t as outraged as I am about what’s going on in the world. Why are we all so quiet about it? Why are we just sitting quietly while cities are being destroyed and cops are being beaten physically and verbally? I want to step away, take a break from the news but at the same time I want to be outraged because none of it is ok. Our families recently went on a mini beach vacation together. We can’t go too far because CT has travel restrictions but we chose a beach a couple hours away. Every day as we set up our spot Erin immediately put two American flags on each side of us. It was like our own US embassy on this sprawling beach of college kids and families. We got some side eye and glares but most of all we got tons of thank yous! 👏🏻 People walked by us and some even went out of their way to say thank you and let us know how nice it was to see those flags blowing in the breeze. Many agreed that now more than ever we need to show our love for America. So we may not be able to speak up too much but we can show our love, support and pride for our country Every Single Day! 🇺🇸
After last weeks post I am so excited to keep going with this. I loved seeing all the likes, comments and messages we recieved especially those of you who shared some businesses with us. I started a list of all the businesses mentioned and will be sharing them in the weeks ahead, so keep them coming!!
This week I’m sharing a few of my favorite things……
I’m a lover of graphic tees and order them nonstop…. my husband can attest, lol. I know most ladies own their own Cricut machines and make whatever they want, but I have yet to jump on that train. And also I’m the least craftiest person in all the land. So I am constantly ordering them online. Facebook being the stalker that it is constantly shares sponsored posts with me full of graphic tees that are all from China. Which then prompts me to check Amazon and once again – China and also terrible quality. So Etsy has been my go-to lately and the shirt I’m sharing today is my absolute favorite!
This was ordered from SassWithClassCo, it was shipped the next day and arrived super fast. The best part was that I was able to choose size and fit. Most of the time I go to place an order and unisex is the only option and everything runs big, not here. So much to choose from, all of the shirts are so cute, and I love supporting these small businesses! They have so many shirts I love and I’m sure you’ll love them too. https://www.etsy.com/shop/SassWithClassCo
Also, check out my flag necklace made by my girl @bella.beadss #America
Which brings me to my next share for today. I love all things red, white and blue! 🇺🇸 We have flags all over the house…. inside & out, and my husband knows the way to my heart. So for Mother’s Day he surprised me with a large wooden flag for our patio from Buffalo Reclaimed Flag Co. It is so solid and absolutely gorgeous!
They come in all different styles & sizes, we even have a smaller one in our upstairs hall.
All of their items are handmade in the USA, this is a family owned company, they offer a military/first responder discount -AND I noticed on the website they are having a huge sale right now so head there and check it out! https://buffaloreclaimed.com/
Last but not least for today, before the craziness that is 2020 began both my husband and I got our carry permits (Erin’s is in the works as well). We all support the 2nd amendment and plan to head to the range to practice, educate ourselves and protect our families. If you don’t live in a cave you are aware that people filing for gun permits and the number of people purchasing firearms has skyrocketed! It’s truly an amazing thing and says a lot about how Americans are feeling. We’ve made a few purchases in the last few months including a gun safe or two. But this little box I’m sharing is my first!!! https://www.smith-wesson.com/
I’m so excited to practice, find the best holster and maybe add to my collection. Smith & Wesson is of course a well known American manufacturer but I had no idea their corporate office was right around the corner from me in Springfield Mass! So as we embark on this journey feel free to share with us the best products around as we welcome input from those of you who are way more versed than us!
As I said last week, we really want to put America first and make sure our money goes to businesses we believe in, so let us know what’s out there and invite others to do the same!
After months of talk, we’ve decided it was time we put our money where our mouths are!
Being a conservative and a Christian I’m usually good at being quiet, minding my own business, keeping my opinions to myself, buying what I need/want/like and not giving too much thought to where things come from, where my money ends up or what special interests these companies support. I love America with all my heart and anyone that knows me will say that is 100% true. But over the last few months I feel like things need to change. My love for America and conservative values can’t just be seen in my red, white & blue hat and the cross around my neck. I need to be more cognizant about what products I’m buying, what brands I support, and MOST importantly where my money is going. And I will be honest in saying that I will do this across the board and at times I will fail & falter, but I won’t give up and I will share along the way!
When I buy makeup for myself and my daughter I don’t want it to be from a company who’s model is biologically a male. I mean seriously! I want to buy makeup made for women, modeled by … you guessed it WOMEN! When I buy cookies that say USA on them and are red, white & blue I want them to be made in the USA and not Mexico. When my daughter wants a cute new outfit for the beach, I don’t want to have to wait 8-12 weeks for it to arrive from China and it not look at all like what was advertised. You get the gist!
So from here on out, we at this blog are starting ‘Faith and Freedom Fridays’. On Fridays we plan to share one or more products, brands, companies, etc. that are made in America. Products that support local companies. Companies that have Christian values and support Christian & conservative principles rather than cowering to the mobs.
Now, if you own, work for or know of a company like this PLEASE share with us. We are on a quest to put our money where our values our, put America first and get the word out for others to do the same. It takes hard work and diligence to investigate, but they are out there and it’s time we stop sitting quietly.
So here goes…..
For our first ‘Faith & Freedom Friday’ we have 3 businesses to share. The first is EverBe cosmetics who was recently featured in The Christian Post.
After being fed up with going to makeup counters/stores to be greeted by makeup wearing men and seeing ads for drugstore products featuring male models, I decided to do some research. I found EverBe online and the products are not only gorgeous, but each product has scripture inspired words/verses on it. As the article above notes this is the “first-ever makeup line to affirm a woman’s God-given identity.” AND a quick email to the company assured me that their products are all made in the USA. I’ve got a few things on the way and cannot wait to try it out! https://everbeyou.com/
The second business we’re sharing was posted on our Instagram page a few days ago. Erin got a super-cool new pair of earrings (and yes I am jealous) from KissMyBrassCo.
They have an Instagram and an Etsy page featuring all their products. When I say this is the coolest jewelry I’m not exaggerating in the least bit! This lady designs all her own earrings, bracelets and necklaces from spent bullet casings. How cool is that?!! I’ve got my eyes on 2 items already, just wanted to wait a few days before I copy Erin, lol.
And the last shoutout for this Friday goes to my girl @Bella.Beadss
Quarantine had us all a little stir crazy, but she used her time to learn how to make some seed bead jewelry and started selling it. Instead of staring at her phone all day or making TikToks nonstop, she’s been a busy bee and I love it! I’m a little biased of course, but I’m super proud of her and have loved everything she’s posted so far. Here she is on Instagram: ⬇️
@Bella.Beadss
Go check out these 3 businesses and let us know what you think! Don’t forget to share with others and fill us in on other businesses you think we’ll love! ❤️🤍💙🇺🇸
We are excited for summer and working out harder to get swimsuit ready! 👙 ☀️ Elena decided that I should come up with a 30 Day challenge for March three days before March. 🙄 So between working on Friday, basketball on Saturday, and church on Sunday I was finally able to finish it late last night.
We will be working out our abs and booty for the month of March. We pinned a lot of different workouts on Pinterest to help us come up with different things to try to get the best results for those areas.
I went with the Plank and Full Body Extension for the abs. For the Full Body Extension do as many as you can without bending your arms or legs. 3 sets resting 1 minute between sets. For the booty it’s all about the squats and lunges. Below is the 30 Day challenge if you would like to join in with us.
I’m going to be honest, this year I didn’t care at all who won the Super Bowl. So I was super excited about the food, the commercials and the half time show. The food was the only thing that didn’t disappoint!! The commercials in my opinion weren’t that good and the half time show was terrible! I felt awkward watching it with kids in the room. 🙈 It would have been much better with more clothes and less poles! 😬🤷♀️
With what little we had to work with here are our Top Ten Best Commercials of the 2020 Super Bowl.
1. Doritos
2. Google 😢
3. Cheetos
4. SodaStream
5. Pepsi
6. Snickers
7. Wal-Mart
8. Mt. Dew
9. Hyundai
10. Turbo Tax
Hope y’all had just as much fun as we had watching the Super Bowl! Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs, I think I heard it’s been a while since they were at the Super Bowl.
Lately I’ve seen so many people posting irritated about losing followers and I feel their pain for sure. When someone follows us I always check to see their ratio of Followers to Following before I decide if I want to follow back . Listen I’m all for helping others grow but the selfishness is what gets to me. The game is what ticks me off.
So what’s the game you say?? Well if you’re trying to build your Instagram you’re fully aware of the game. Those people who seek you out and follow you, you being the kind person you are check out their page and reciprocate-follow them back only to find seven minutes later they’ve unfollowed you. 😡It’s downright nasty. Listen I’m all about organically getting followers and for sure you may have way more Followers than Following. I mean I’m always following people because I enjoy their content and have no thought of them following me back. I follow people for recipes, outfits or home decor and will continue to follow them even if they’ve never even looked at our page. But I’m specifically talking about those that follow hundreds of people a day just to turn around and unfollow them when they get their follow. I’m over it.
I’ve heard there are Apps people use, some are unreliable, some cost money and Instagram claims to be totally against them. We started just doing it on our own naturally. As we scroll through feed if we see a post before we go to ❤️ it, I just quickly click to the profile and see if the user is following us . If they are then great, they’re a decent human…if not then buh-bye. Unfollowed back at ya. Sometimes Insta gets mad 🤷♀️ #itiswhatitis
I’m disappointed to see how many users do this. I guess it surprised me how many totally self serving people there are in the world. Apparently it didn’t surprise Erin 😂 This was our text the other day when I was getting fed up 😬
Well that’s that! I would love to hear how others deal with it. We are all about helping others grow and will try our best to always reciprocate, we certainly don’t want to be shitty people 🤣!!
We are both raising girls, quite a few between us actually! I have two girls with a good amount of years and one brother in between them. Erin has 3 girls…… 3 girls 😳….ALL girls and fairly close in age. I pray for her often 🤣. And whether you want to admit to it or not, it’s definitely different raising boys and girls. And I’ll be honest, I am for sure stricter and more protective in many ways of my girls. Don’t misunderstand, I am still very strict with my son and no doubt he would back me up on that. I expect good behavior, manners and have rules for all of them. But danger seems to be lurking around every corner for girls these days, which is why I feel setting boundaries and ground rules from the get-go is so important. But this social media stuff is crazy hard to manage and stay on top of. It takes a lot of time and management which is why I think most parents don’t pay much attention to it. Unfortunately for my kids I’m not most parents lol!
The newest App on the scene around here these days is TikTok. It started out as kinda cute. All of our girls (kids really because my son even made an appearance in a few) were doing dances whenever they were together and my daughter would have to show me all of the videos before she could share them on her private account. After a while it just sort of took off and somewhere along the way I feel like I lost the reigns. (I think Erin can probably say the same with her girls.) Life just got so busy that we didn’t monitor it the way we had originally planned to. Since our kids are so close in age and spend a good amount of time together going back and forth to each others houses, we thought it would be best for us to be on the same page. And me in all my over-organized obsessiveness decided we needed rules…..in hard copy of course! I did a quick search and couldn’t find much online from a parents perspective. There are tons of rules and contracts out there that parents have made and shared for cell phone usage, video games, texting, etc. but I didn’t find anything specific to this App. So I decided to make my own. Rules are my favorite 🤗 so it was a piece of cake!!
Here are the rules:
Rule #1. Accounts must be private. ~No exceptions.
Rule #2. Users can only follow you if they allow you to follow them. ~Meaning no nosy bodies and it will be checked regularly so that if somebody continues to follow but changes it so you can’t follow them then buh bye! 👋🏻
Rule #3. Anyone commenting inappropriately must be removed and unfollowed.
Rule #4. Parents can access your account at any time and must have login info & password.
Rule #5. ALL videos must be parent approved before posting.
Rule #6. Songs with foul language, explicit or inappropriate contact can not be used. ~Even if you’re not saying the words the songs are still not to be used.
Rule #7. Dancing and gestures must be appropriate.
Rule #8. Clothing worn must be appropriate for all videos.
Rule #9. If any of the above rules are broken you will lose use of the App for 1 week. ~That means no posting and no viewing!
Rule #10. Three strikes you’re out and the App must be removed.
Wellllll, the kids didn’t love my rules. Some felt a little stronger about them than others 😬 We gave them time to go through their accounts and tidy it up so we can move forward and really stick to it. The funny thing is when my daughter can’t post immediately… she rethinks a lot of her video or song choices. When that initial moment passes there isn’t an urgency to share the videos anymore, which is really the point any way right?! It’s often the case that when we take a moment and don’t say or do what we feel so strongly about in that particular moment, it doesn’t seem to be so important later. It’s also making her filter what she puts out there, because once it’s out there there’s no taking it back!
I guess we’ll see how this works from here on out. I’m always welcome to advice on how to handle all the social media stuff. Message us if you would like a printable copy or if you have any rules we should add….I love a good rule! 😜
Ever since my first born started reading chapter books I read whatever she read. It started out so that I could help her prepare for her quizzes. At her old school they did AR and had to take a short computerized quiz after finishing every book. So I would read her books to help her with comprehension. I would get emails throughout the day with her scores on those quizzes and she was doing great! Then it turned into more of a parental control…. as her reading flourished the levels she advanced to included a lot of books I wasn’t ok with my elementary student reading. Therefore I would read many of the books before her or try to stay a chapter ahead of her. This way I could steer her clear of inappropriate books or be prepared to have to explain some iffy content. By the end of elementary school her reading level included books that I definitely didn’t approve of, often times sending books back to school with a note to the teacher saying I wasn’t ok with this particular book choice. Last year when she started middle school we went to the school library during summer hours to stock up for summer. I came to realize there were no more levels and many of the books there were books I had read myself and wasn’t quite ready for her to read. At this point she’s pretty good about weeding out the junk and we both can do a quick google search to find age appropriate levels. But she’s 13 now and many young adult books nowadays are read by adults as well…. i.e. The Hunger Games Series, Divergent Trilogy and The Fault In Our Stars just to name a few.
Recently I heard about Book of The Month Young Adult and I was super interested. I love that you get to choose which book you receive from new reads every month. I decided to be an affiliate and logged in to get my September choice. I was able to read a little synopsis of each book that way I can choose something I know my daughter (and myself 😜) would like and what would be appropriate. The choices were great across the board and included books for younger teens to college/adult age. Honestly I would’ve enjoyed all of them myself!
Here’s our first box:
I chose the book Frankly in Love by David Yoon. No spoilers, but it’s about a Korean American boy who’s parents are insistent he find a nice Korean girl. Needless to say he has other plans but comes up with a plan to appease his parents. I’ll definitely post a little review after finishing!
And let’s not forget the goodies that came in the box 😍 My girls devoured the cookie immediately! I haven’t decided if I plan to share those bookmoji pins yet 🤔 we’ll see.
I’m really excited for future boxes. I know my daughter is looking forward to it and already has plans to pass the books along to friends. Here’s my link below ↙️ if you’re interested in giving it a try, I think you’ll love it!!
Elena And Erin.....It Is What It Is 