New Fave + Dollar Tree Find

On December 18, 2024 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn product reviewsLeave a comment

Around here everyone has “their” breakfast that I make them. Hannah”s choice is two sunny side up eggs with a sausage patty. Jack has two, either a breakfast on a Bun with sausage or a breakfast taco with sausage, egg and cheese. Donny has two slices of bacon, 3 scrambled eggs with cheese and hot sauce. I have never really had a favorite, must eat this, breakfast until now.

On my last trip to Aldi I picked up the thick cut Appleton bacon that I always buy. When I pulled it out this morning to make Donny’s breakfast I noticed that I had picked up the maple bacon. I always either get the peppered kind of just the normal one. I didn’t even know that this company even made maple bacon.

After I made Donny’s breakfast our house smelled SO good. I love the smell of maple. It’s just that cold weather cozy smell. After I dropped Jackson at school and walked back into the house I could still smell it. It’s like we had a maple candle burning. This, of course, prompted me to want some of that bacon. I am not a huge breakfast eater. I love breakfast foods, but I normally don’t eat in the mornings. Not this morning though. I decided that nothing would go better with bacon than some sourdough french toast with maple syrup. I was not disappointed.

This is 100% my favorite breakfast. Thank you, Aldi because everything came from your store. I cannot wait to have it again tomorrow morning.

On another note, I was in Dollar tree last week. Our dollar tree does not have a lot of products that I’ve seen people showing online. I don’t know if everything just sells out and I miss something because I rarely go into that store. When I was there picking up candy for the stockings I happened to walk into the kitchen side of the store and found this product on one of the shelves, completely misplaced.

I am extremely leary of dollar store beauty products, but this one checked all of my boxes.

And one of the best things is that it’s…

I don’t know why the picture is blurry, but you get the idea.

Now, all of this doesn’t mean a hill of beans if it doesn’t work, but this stuff really works. I just spray it on my hair, especially the ends, and blow dry. It makes my hair soft and shiny. I don’t like to use heat on my hair, but during the colder months, I can’t have a damp head or else I’m freezing all day. If you find this at your Dollar Tree it’s definitely worth a try.

And just because, here’s Monkey napping. She won’t come inside during the hot months, but rarely leaves the kitchen during the colder ones. Such a strange little cat.

New Favorites

On November 26, 2024 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn product reviewsLeave a comment

I love citrus. I can’t drink iced tea without either lemon or lime in it. I don’t know how it changes the taste so much, but for me it does. I love lemon bars, lemon candy, basically anything lemon. When I was at Aldi a few weeks ago I went down the “weird” aisle. I call it that because it never fails to disappoint me with products from other countries that you just don’t see on standard grocery shelves. That’s where I spotted it. It’s now my go-to for my morning sourdough toast.

It is tart, sweet and heavenly. It’s made in Belgium and I highly recommend it. It’s my new favorite toast topping.

The other deliciousness that I found were these beauties.

I probably could have eaten the whole jar in one sitting. This plum little peppers aren’t terribly spicy but they have the most robust flavor. Add in the creamy cheese and they are the perfect little bite. They are packed in oil so I think that brings down the spiciness. The sad news is, is that Aldi has been out of them the last 3 times I’ve been back. I’m hoping they get more in. If they do I’ll buy several jars because they are that good. I only have one left and I’m going to be sad when it’s gone.

And just because Monkey loves any bags or boxes. Plus she’s really cute.

She doesn’t get along with the other cats, but the other day when Hannah was at work, I walked by her room and saw this.

There may be hope yet.

Knives Out

On January 25, 2024January 25, 2024 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn product reviewsLeave a comment

The other night I was hand washing some dishes when I heard a POP. I had no idea what it was until I went to put a knife in my bristle knife holder. The whole side had just broken apart.

I couldn’t really do anything with the bristle part so we had to come up with another solution.

Donny had a great idea to get a magnetic holder that we could mount to the wall. We had one in our home in Baton Rouge and I really liked it. He Google searched and found one at IKEA and one at Home Depot. They were both $20 and, being, frugal, I thought that was really too much to pay. I did a Google search and found a magnetic tool holder at Harbor Freight for $2.99.

It’s super sturdy and holds all of our knives. Plus it gives us more counter space.

I 100% recommend this if you don’t have a lot of storage or counter space.

Speedy Delivery

On May 29, 2020 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home Stuff, product reviews2 Comments

I’m not someone who regularly orders products online. I’m always a little leary of it not really being the same as what’s advertised. With that being said, I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised.

The first item was a flea collar from chewy.com.

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We have tried SO many different flea prevention products and the Seresto collar was the winner. It last for 8 months and doesn’t cause skin irritations on my dog. We used to get ours at the local pet store, but they are expensive. I googled it and chewy had it for 30 dollars cheaper! I jumped on that deal. That’s a good chunk of change.

My mom had given me a purse that she’d had since the 50’s/60’s. It’s a leather mock crock handbag. I love vintage purses, but the handle was so small it just wasn’t practical. I’ve had it for so many years and it just sat in my closet. I was going to donate it when I had a great idea.

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You can see in this picture how small the handle is.

I found a leather purse strap on ebay. I could pick the color, length I wanted and the metal finish. I chose the 24″ length, brown color with antique brass finish.

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It matches almost perfectly. I’m SO glad I didn’t donate it.

Also, if you have a Big Lots near you, next time you’re there check out this soap.

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I use it to wash my face. It’s a castille soap with aloe Vera. It takes off all my makeup and leaves my face clean and soft. Most importantly it doesn’t dry it out. At big lots it costs just a little over a dollar. It’s a little more expensive online, but not by much. Totally worth the money.

Now I’m going to go get things ready for the kids backyard campout we’re having this evening. We worked on the yard yesterday and just have a little tweaking to do today.

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Happy Friday! ❤

From Bad to Good

On January 24, 2019 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn CBD Oil, Home Stuff, product reviewsLeave a comment

Today did not start out all that great. Donny was out of town for work so I slept horribly. I just cannot sleep well when he’s not home. It’s very rare for us to be apart, so when he has to go out of town it throws everything off balance. We’ve been married 13 years, so I’m thankful that I still feel the same was about him as I did when we first got married.

I had a dentist appointment at 9:00 a.m. to finally get my permanent crown on. About a month ago I woke up at 4 in the morning with something in my mouth. It was part of my tooth!!!! I grind my teeth horribly and have since I was a kid. I have a habit of spitting my night guard out in the middle of the night. I chose not to have numbing shots and although it was uncomfortable my mouth and face wasn’t numb all day. Anyway, it didn’t take all that long and I figured as long as I was right by CBD Express I would run in and grab our CBD oil.

For about 3 months we’ve been using Hemplucid 1000 mg. I like it better than the other brand we used previously. It’s a little stronger so it only takes 1/4 of a dropper to get the dose we need. When I was in the store talking to the owner, Mr. Scott, I realized that my daughter’s face had cleared up almost completely. She is 12 and hitting adolescence. She had started getting acne and since she has been on the oil it has all but completely cleared up. Just another amazing side effect of taking the oil. On a side note, my sciatica is still gone!

I had a few errands to run after that. I have a very favorite cleaning product. The only place I have seen it in the bigger bottles is at Family Dollar. I look everywhere I go and stumbled upon it by accident at this store.

This is the best scent ever!!! Not only does it clean most everything it will make your house smell amazing! I don’t like flowery smelling anything. This is just a very clean smell. I also pick up these cleaning cloths when I pick up my cleaner. There are 3 of them per pack and are only $1.50. They are thick, but not too thick, and clean really well. The cleaner is also less than $3.00. That’s a win for me.

When I got home I finished up a little laundry and as I was putting Jack’s things away, this is what almost gave me a heart attack.

My cat Tommy popped his head out as I was bending down to put some socks in the drawer.

The best parts of my day are as follows. Donny surprised me and got home earlier than I expected so we got to cook dinner together. I love when this gets to happen because it is usually few and far between. We get a chance to spend some time together and he got to fill me in on how everything went on his trip.

I made Garlic Butter Steak and Potato Skillet. I used my newly restored cast iron skillet and am proud to say I’m not intimidated by cast iron anymore. It was really good and super easy to make. I got the recipe off pinterest. Donny made some skillet corn to go with it. Oh my yum!

After dinner Hannah and I had a 30 minute living room dance party with some heavy hitting 90’s tunes. It was a serious workout that left us sweaty and laughing. I recommend having a dance party whenever you get the chance because, no kidding, I will be sore tomorrow for sure.

Now I’m going to go enjoy my husband being home. I hope everyone is having a great evening,

Stacy

CBD Oil – An Honest Review

On October 24, 2018October 24, 2018 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn CBD Oil, product reviewsLeave a comment

First of all, I want to start off by saying I don’t sell this. I’m not pushing anyone to buy this. I just know that when I was doing research on cbd oil, I liked the honest reviews, the reviews by actual users who didn’t sell it. For some reason, when an MLM (that’s multi level marketing, otherwise known as direct sales) person is going on and on about benefits of their products, I tend to skip over those reviews.

So, here is our story.

Back when we lived in Louisiana, my husband heard about a product that helped with tics. Ever since my 12 year old daughter was a baby she had always “stimmed”. This just means that she had a repetitive movement. Hers were her hands. We had all types of tests run, from EEG’s to CAT scans. Nothing definitive ever came of them. It happens when she gets nervous, anxious or excited. We now believe that she has a very mild form of Tourettes.

When we moved to East Texas, we decided that we were going to give CBD oil a try. Our goal was to start her on it a week before school started, so we could see if there were any beneficial differences. We had done a lot of online research, but I was very wary about buying from an online source. I wanted to actually talk to a knowledgeable human to understand exactly what was in the product and to find out the difference between the strengths and what was right for us.

A quick google search led me here. DSCN0926

This is CBD Express that is about 1 mile from our home. The store is owned by the nicest couple, the Scotts. I say nicest because they answered my million questions so patiently, giving me the information without at all being pushy or annoyed.

Here is the inside of the store. You can see why I had so my questions. There are a lot of different products and I really wanted to make sure I chose the right one.

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The top row is the sublingual oils. The second row is the syrup and vaping oil. The bottom row is the CBD Living Water. More about the water later.

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Soap and bath bombs. They also carry body lotion.

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Roll on pain reliever and the patches

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More products including the edibles

You can see why I was confused about what would be the best route to go. There are a lot of choices.

Here are some of the information they have posted. It will give you a good idea about just what CBD oil is used for.

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Click on the picture to make it larger so it’s easier to read.

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I chose the 1000 mg sublingual oil. I asked Mr. Scott if he knew if it worked for menopausal symptoms. I was having hot flashes like there was no tomorrow, and I was willing to try ANYTHING to help with these. He told me that he had no idea, but he’d like to know. Going into this, I knew that I was going to be taking the oil also. I was not going to give something to my daughter that I had no idea how it actually affects the body. We decided that half a dropper, under the tongue morning and evening would be the starting dosage. CBD oil dosing is not an exact science because it can be different for everyone. You have to find that “sweet spot” that works for you.

With an oil purchase, you can purchase a bottle of the living water for $1.95. So, I left the store with a bottle of 1000 mg oil, a bottle of living water and a sucker for Hannah that he gave me for her to try.

So, here we go. We started the oil on August 14th.

When I got in the car, I opened the water. I drank some and I let Hannah drink some. I immediately felt calm. Seriously, immediately. Hannah said that she could feel her heartbeat slow. When she gets anxious, her heartbeat elevates. It was like Xanax in a bottle, without the narcotic side effects. Just very calming. Just a disclaimer here, there is NO THC in these products.

So far, so good. School clothes shopping that same day did not make me want to go insane. I do NOT like shopping, especially at the mall, but I was okay. I was much calmer and able to actually enjoy it. Hannah was less anxious and also enjoyed it.

We were off to a good start. We started on the drops that evening. The taste is not bad. You just squirt it under your tongue and hold it for 15 seconds before you swallow. Easy peasy.

Now, here’s where it gets crazy. I have had sciatica pain for almost 3 years. We are talking excruciating pain. At one point I was taking up to 12 ibuprofen a day! I had a tens unit that I would wear at least an hour a day. Donny would come home and I would immediately ask him to push on my hip to try and relieve the pain. I could not wear the same shoes 2 days in a row or I could barely walk. Y’all it was BAD!!!!! Life altering bad!

The second day I realized something was different and then it hit me. MY SCIATICA PAIN WAS GONE!!!! Just gone. Just like that. I couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be the oil, could it? I’d only taken it twice. My life changed. I wasn’t in constant pain. I could walk. I could wear the same shoes every day if I wanted to. I didn’t have to take any ibuprofen, aspirin or tylenol. I felt 20 years younger.

I really thought at first it was a fluke, but almost 3 months later it is still gone. Nothing, nada, gone. Pain free for the first time in almost 3 years!

As for Hannah, one morning I forgot to give her the oil. I asked her when she got home if she noticed a difference. She said, that explains why my leg was bouncing and I felt anxious. It has helped her so much. She is actually talking to people and initiating conversations. She is extremely shy and suffers from social anxiety. She is very self conscious of her stimming which causes the anxiety. I am very happy to report that her stimming has considerably slowed and her anxiety is almost non existent.

Would I recommend taking CBD oil. I would. The ONLY con in my list of pros is that it isn’t cheap. I can justify the price because it has eliminated my pain without having to take any kind of narcotic. It has helped my daughter without having to have her on some type of anxiety meds that take weeks to get into your system before they work and if she needed to get off of, we would have to wean her off of them. No thanks, I will pay more to have something that works almost immediately and if you stop taking it, there are zero side effects.

We have now moved up to the 1500 mg. The reason we did is because it only takes 1/4 of a dropper, instead of 1/2 dropper with the 1000 mg, and we don’t go through it as fast. A bottle lasts us about a month.

If you have any questions, you can email me or you can call the Scotts at CBD Express. Before I wrote this I told them I was going to and asked them if I could include their phone number and website. They said that if anyone had any questions they would be more than happy to answer them and to don’t hesitate to reach out to them. Seriously, they are passionate about helping people feel better.

They also ship their product, so if you are interested in purchasing anything CBD related, they are your people. (I am not being compensated for this blog) I completely trust them and what they stand for.

CBD Express

2551 Judson Rd Suite 1A

Longview, TX 7505

email: cbdexpresstx@gmail.com

website: cbdexpresstx.com

Phone: (903) 238-8118

As for the menopausal symptoms, my hot flashes have dramatically decreased. I am not irritated by the little things that used to set me off. Although I didn’t notice it as much, my husband did. The big plus is that I can feel better and not have to be on hormone replacement therapy which makes me very happy.

I hope this review helps anyone that is thinking about trying CBD products. If you decide this is something for you, no matter where you purchase it, make sure that you know the ingredients. There are some places that are not as honest and their ingredients are more the watered down version of what you should be taking. Just do your research so you can get quality ingredients.