Tessa doesn’t eat vegetables.  (She also doesn’t like many fruits.  Strictly crackers, yogurt, cheese, and meat if she had her way.) When she gets older, her flat out refusal will no longer be an option but at this age we can’t reason with her and the gag reflex is strong in this one (as the doc found out with his tongue depressor at our last peds appointment).  So, she doesn’t eat vegetables.  We offer them.  She throws them on the floor.  I thought about trying baby food veggies but I hate to take a step back after all the months we worked to get her to eat solids.  The doctor said it isn’t worth fighting with her at this age and recommended a multi-vitamin. (She also doesn’t like fruit juice so the V8 Fusion stuff is out too.)  Twitter told me about Little Blends.  She loves them – carrot and strawberry is her favorite flavor.  I love that I can get at least a little bit of vegetable in her this way. Stonyfields also makes a fruit/veggie yogurt blend called YoBaby 3in1 Meals but I can only find it at Whole Foods.  If you haven’t seen any of these in your grocery store, check out the organic section of your grocery store because they annoyingly don’t stock it with the regular yogurt in many stores.

I had a favorite mascara made by Maybelline but they quit making it a few years ago.  I’ve been searching for a new favorite…and I finally found it.  I love Rimmel Sexxy Curves mascara.  It lengthens and curls but doesn’t clump or look ridiculous.  And bonus! It is pretty inexpensive.  My only complaint would be that they don’t seem to make anything softer than black…I prefer a brown-black.

I love this can opener.  I’ve had it for over a year and I still love it.  There is a bit of a learning curve but once you figure out how to operate it, it is awesome.  It doesn’t cut the can open – it uncrimps the top from the can so there are no sharp edges.  There is no blade that gets icky and touches your food inside the can.  The pointed tail opens the ring top cans without breaking a nail.  It also opens bottle caps and 2 liter soda bottle caps.  And it comes in cute colors.  I’ve bought it for my step mom (she doesn’t use it – I haven’t given her sufficient lessons…seriously had to walk my husband through it for a month), my mom, and my mother in law.

My mom sent The Furminator to Steve for  Father’s Day last year.  She apologized that it was a lame gift.  After using it, he said it was the best gift she ever gave him.  He claims its awesomeness must be a result of being made from ground up unicorn horns.   I seriously think we could brush the dog bald with this thing.  It takes off so much loose hair – it is worth the money. They make smaller ones for cats too.  Now if only I could find a way to get my sweet hubby to use it on the dog more often…but he does so many other things around here that I just can’t bring myself to nag.

Last but by no means least, Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pancake and Waffle Mix – GAH! This stuff is awesome.  Normally, I might make pancakes once every few months but I’ve made this 4 times in the past 3 weeks.  It is so yummy.  Just enough pumpkin and not super sweet – perfect.  If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, get some.  Now.  Go.  It is seasonal so it might disappear at any moment and you don’t want to miss it!

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FTC Disclaimer because apparently they aren’t busy enough – they need to create work by policing little old mommy bloggers.  Ahem.  (Kidding FTC…please don’t sick the IRS on me.)  Anywho – No one asked me to pimp these products nor did they provide me with any monetary compensation or products in return for my giving them some love.  (Although if any of you wants to hook me up, I’ll gladly accept some free TJ’s Pumpkin Pancake Mix.)  The links contained in this post will lead to the products listed but the companies could care less that I am linking up (in other words, they aren’t affiliate links…assuming my assumption of the definition of “affiliate links” is accurate).  I just love my readers and thought some of them might love these products that make life easier/happier.