I love wearing jewelry thats message is as beautiful as the jewelry itself.

Her company is called Grace Tags, and she has a gazillion messages to choose from!

Plus her prices are VERY affordable. Everything in her shop is less than $32. Wouldn’t these make a lovely Valentine’s or Mother’s Day gift?? AND you can get 20% off with the code HOUSEWIFEMUSINGS.

WIN IT!

One lucky Musings of a Housewife reader will win a Grace Tags necklace of her choice.

Visit Grace Tags Collection and see what Janelle has to offer. Then come back here and leave me a comment telling me your favorite design and what it means to you.

Extra {Optional} Entries:

You may receive an extra entry for any or all of the following; just make sure to leave a separate comment for each.

1. Give yourself an extra entry for being a subscriber to my blog. You can subscribe by RSS or subscribe by email and get daily updates right to your email inbox!

2. Get yet another entry for following Grace Tags on Twitter.

3. And for following ME on Twitter!

4. Finally, sign up for my monthly email newsletter. I promise you will not receive more than one email a month, and if you hate it (but why would you!!?) you can easily unsubscribe at any time.

While it doesn’t count for a giveaway entry, we would both love it if you would also “like” Grace Tags and Musings of a Housewife on Facebook.

Save 20%

This is my 3rd and final wine review for the California Wine Club, and it is with much sadness and regret that I bid this campaign adieu. I mean, hello, free wine every month!??? That’s my kinda blog campaign!

Of course, it doesn’t have to end. Well, the free part does. I’m pretty sure I can’t convince @boringwineguy to keep sending me free wine forever. But I have considered starting a monthly subscription because I love trying out new wines, and I’ve loved {almost} every bottle I’ve tried from the California Wine Club.

They certainly saved the best for last. In my final delivery, I received a Chardonnay and a Cabernet from Tulip Hill Winery in Rancho Mirage, California.

I enjoyed both equally, but I think the red was my favorite. It’s actually not just a Cab. It’s a blend of Montepulciano grapes and Cabernet Sauvignon. The description says it “bursts with flavors of summer-ripened berries and a kiss of dark chocolate”.

HOW do they come up with this stuff?

All I know is, it was delicious, the perfect red dinner wine, and it complimented our London Broil beautifully.

I believe I shared the Chardonnay with a friend over wine and cheese one evening. This Chardonnay is a silver medal and 3-time bronze medal-winner, and I can see why. It is light and fresh and not too oaky as Chardonnay can tend to be.

This wine club membership is seriously an awesome holiday gift idea for the person in your life who seems to have everything. If they like wine, of course. But really, check it out. You can send a one month gift (they start at $49.95) or as many months as you wish. If you do decide to place a membership, either as a gift or for yourself, we have a special offer JUST for YOU! 

TRY IT!

1. Gift a membership to any of the California Wine Clubs and get 10% off.

2. Place a membership for yourself and get 10% off, PLUS a third bottle of wine at no extra cost. There is no obligation to stay beyond the first month, but I’m warning you, you might be hooked!

Use the code PHILLYSOCIAL to take advantage of either offer.

WIN IT!

It keeps getting better, right?? I just got approval to add a giveaway to this post! WOOT!

Required Entry:

Enter to win a one-month subscription to The California Wine Club by commenting on this post and telling me who you would like to gift with a California Wine Club membership.

Additional Optional Entries:

1. Share this giveaway with your friends on Twitter or Facebook, then leave a comment on this post saying you did so (that is the only way to get your extra entry to count!) You can do this once a day! Just make sure to leave a comment for each entry.

2. Give yourself an extra entry for being a subscriber to my blog. Please note, you can also subscribe by email and get my posts emailed once daily to your email inbox!

3. Get yet another entry for following @cawineclub on Twitter.

4. And for following JoLynneS on Twitter.

5. Finally, sign up for my email newsletter! I promise, you will not receive more than one email a month, and if you hate it (but why would you!?), you can easily unsubscribe at any time.

While it doesn’t count for a giveaway entry, we would both love it if you would also “like” California Wine Club and Musings of a Housewife on Facebook.

WINNER SELECTION:

On Monday, December 19th, one winner will be selected at random using the And The Winner Is plugin for WordPress and will be notified by email. Please have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see my Giveaway Policy page.

Disclosure: the The California Wine Club invited me to try out their Premier Club membership for three months and blog about my experience. Hello. Free wine? You better bet I took ‘em up on it!

For one thing, it is very hard to keep track of the money that they earn because we give them cash, which can easily become misplaced or spent thoughtlessly. And we never managed to get them in the habit of saving much of it so it tends to get wiled away on crappy toys and junk food at the swimming pool.

We’ve known for a while that we need a better system, but we didn’t really know what that system would be until I was approached a few weeks ago to partner with a company called Kidworth as a blogger ambassador.

Kidworth is awesome in several ways. For one thing, it offers a solution to the old fashioned allowance system and helps us keep better track of the money that’s coming and going. It encourages kids to save towards specific goals and makes it easy to track their progress. And it also gives generous gift giving friends and family the ability to contribute towards the child’s savings goal instead of buying more, ahem, junky toys to clutter up the house.

I don’t know about you, but I get so incredibly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of STUFF my kids bring into our house. Kidworth offers a fabulous solution.

So, what IS Kidworth exactly??

Kidworth is a free service for parents to help teach children money management that will last a lifetime. Our service allows parents to set up accounts for their children, create goals each child is working towards, and invite family and friends to help via emails, social sharing, and invites.

The system is incredibly easy to use, and with the holidays rapidly approaching, this is the perfect time to set up an account for your child and spread the word to friends and family. Instead of buying another unnecessary toy, the gift giver can purchase an eCard from Kidworth that will go toward meeting one of his or her monetary goals.

I’m sure I’m not the only parent who responds to the “gimmes” by telling my child that he is welcome to save up for whatever item is that is his heart’s desire. This suggestion is often met with an enthusiastic response, but rarely (if ever) does the child actually set aside money and save up toward the goal. Kidworth helps them set a goal and provides a visual record for them as they save towards their goal.

Did you know kids get an average of $25,000 in gifts and cash from 0-18? Yet most children have a net worth of zero when they leave home. Kidworth is designed to help kids of all ages learn financial goal setting so they leave the nest with a nest egg in place.

It really is amazing when you look at it that way. So much money is wasted over the years, but with Kidworth we can stop this vicious cycle and get our kids on the road to wise money management before they have time to develop bad habits.

Sounds great! How does it work?

So say your child wants a bike. You go into their Kidworth account and Start A Goal.

They encourage each child to have a “Share” goal, a “Spend” goal, and a “Save” goal. The share is a charity they may want to contribute to. In our case, we will encourage them to give to our church. A spend goal is something they are saving up to buy. And the save goal is exactly that — their longterm savings.

Then each child has an “Investor” page where it shows a summary of their goals and progress. (I did it wrong – I made the bike a “Save” goal, and I can’t figure out how to change it. But you get the idea.)

It’s important to note that the Kidworth account is in the parent’s name. So it is my account, and my contact info is entered. I can create a portfolio for each child, but ultimately I am in control of the account, which I love.

Once the child has set up his portfolio, he can send invites to his friends or family members who might be wanting a birthday or holiday gift idea.

If you are a grandparent or a friend who wants to contribute to a child’s goal on Kidworth, you simply go to the child’s page and click on the Support This Goal button under the specific goal you want to contribute to. From there you are taken to the gift card page where you can customize the gift card amount and message. When you check out, you enter your credit or debit card information and purchase a gift card which will directly fund the child’s account. There is a $2.50 fee to cover the credit card fees that Kidworth incurs.

The child will receive a gift card that looks something like this.

It will come via email unless the sender chooses to send a physical card for an additional $5 fee. So those people who are determined to see the child unwrap a gift, or want the child to receive “real” mail, can choose this option.

I’m excited to help my kids set up their accounts and see how they like Kidworth. I think it will be a huge improvement over our current allowance system, and I love that they can save up towards specific goals and chart their progress. I’ll post an update in a couple of weeks and let you know how it’s going!

Meanwhile, this is a great time to set up a Kidworth account, and invite family and friends to give the gift of financial responsibility. Let me know if you try it and how it works for you!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, written by me on behalf of Kidworth. The opinions expressed are my own.

The pinot noir was good. I’m a huge fan of pinot noir, so it went down easy.

I put off the drinking of the white for a week or so because I wasn’t sure what a Gewürztraminer is. I thought it might be a blush, of which I’m not a fan.

Then when I finally opened it and it was white, I assumed it was probably some sort of Reisling. Once again, I’m not so much a fan.

Then I took a sip. INTERESTING . . .

I took another. I think I kind of like it. 

After the third, I was sold.

But to describe it? That’s a tough one. It is dry but not oaky. It has a fruity sweetness to it, but it’s not too strong. It’s not quite a dessert wine — more of an aperitif. But even so, there is a strength to it so that it stands up well to food. I clearly don’t have the wine lingo down, but in a nutshell, this is some good drinking wine!

When I went online to read the label, I discovered that it is 77% Gewürztraminer, 15% Viognier and 8% Muscat Canelli. It makes sense that it has a bit of Muscat in it. I actually can appreciate a Muscat when I’m in the mood for sweet.

I’m still not entirely sure what kind of grape a Gewürztraminer is, but I understand that Castoro’s Gewürz is made in such small quantities that the winery has never submitted it for review or competitions. It is that rare. And it is YUM.

I enjoyed it with a strong garlic-cheddar cheese and crackers, but I can imagine it would be good with smoked salmon or even some Asian cuisines as California Wine Club recommends.

I have to say, it is so nice to have someone knowledgable to take the guesswork out of buying wine. I pretty much know what I like, but I don’t often try new varieties, and I have definitely expanded my wine-drinking horizons by participating in this campaign.

If you recall from my last wine review, the The California Wine Club invited me to try out their Premier Club membership for three months, which means that every month I receive two different wines from wine regions not normally represented outside of California’s wine community, each one hand-selected by CWC owners Bruce and Pam.

The wine club membership would make a fabulous Christmas gift for the person on your list who has everything, or a great to-me, from-me gift if you’re a wine connoisseur and don’t want to wait for your Special Someone to get the hint! Even if you aren’t a wine connoisseur, this is a great way to learn about wine and discover what you do and don’t like.

The California Wine Club would love it if you “liked” them on Facebook and followed @cawineclub on Twitter. You can also “like” Boring Wine Guy and follow @boringwineguy on Twitter for great wine advice and tips.

Have you ever tried a Gewürztraminer? What did you think?

I’d heard about wine clubs that ship you wine on a regular basis and offer suggestions based on your likes and dislikes, but I never looked into joining one because I thought I couldn’t get wine delivered in Pennsylvania. (We have some crazy liquor laws here!) But recently The California Wine Club invited me to try out their Premier Club membership for three months, and when I checked with them, I discovered that I can actually receive wine after all! I have no idea how they get around it, but evidently they can ship to any state but Utah. Go figure. Armed with that helpful tidbit of information, I eagerly agreed to receive three shipments in exchange for a candid post about each.

The California Wine club is owned by Bruce and Pam Boring, and they travel California’s wine country visiting wineries, meeting the families and tasting their wines. As everyone knows, the best wine recommendations come from friends, and their mission is for their club to be like a friend recommending a great bottle of wine to their friends. They’ve been in business for 20 years and are still going strong.

The Premier Club membership (the one I’m trying out) costs $36.45 a month, and every month you receive two different wines from wine regions not normally represented outside of California’s wine community, each one hand-selected by Bruce and Pam. There are no membership fees, and you can cancel any time.

A couple of weeks ago, I received my first box in the mail. I opened it up to find a Chardonnay and a Zin, both by Perry Creek Winery in the Sierra Foothills region of California.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Chardonnay. It was crisp and clean and not too oaky as Chardonnays sometimes are, and it was a great compliment to the Chicken Gruyere I made that night.

I wasn’t quite as fond of the Zin, but I think that’s because I generally prefer a lighter red such as a Pinot Noir or my current fave, the Malbec. I can even appreciate a good Cabernet with steak, but I’ve never been a big fan of the red Zinfandels. (In other words, it’s not you, it’s me.)

The experience was seamless. The wine was delivered to my doorstep . . . how awesome is that!? It did require a signature, so I was fortunate to be here when it arrived. I’ll make a point to stay close to home on the next delivery date. It was packaged in styrofoam and came with a copy of their beautiful publication, Uncorked, and a form for taking tasting notes. I’m already looking forward to my next shipment!

TRY IT!

The California Wine Club is offering Musings of a Housewife readers two specials.

1. Gift a membership to any of their clubs at 10% off.

2. Place a membership for yourself and get 10% off, PLUS a third bottle of wine at no extra cost. There is no obligation to stay beyond the first month, but I’m warning you, you might be hooked!

Use the code PHILLYSOCIAL to take advantage of either offer.

WIN IT!

It keeps getting better, right?? You also have a chance to win a one-month subscription to The California Wine Club if you follow @cawineclub on Twitter and tweet the following:

I followed @cawineclub. Win wine from @JoLynneS at http://wp.me/p1PAA2-801.

Then leave a comment on this post for your entry to be counted.

I will randomly select a winner at the end of the week with the And The Winner Is plugin for WordPress. Winner must have a street address for mailing purposes in any of the 50 U.S. states except for Utah.

It’s not a giveaway requirement, but The California Wine Club would love it if you “liked” them on Facebook. You can also “like” Boring Wine Guy and follow @boringwineguy on Twitter for great wine advice and tips. You really should check them out. Their goal is to “take the stuffy out of wine”, so even if you don’t fancy yourself a wine connoisseur, you will get tips and tricks that will help you choose wine that you will enjoy and learn how to pair wine and food for a delicious dining experience!

I remember each new school year as a child, caressing those new notebooks and promising myself to only do my neatest work and to maintain tidy notebooks the whole year  through. Of course by October, they were worn and dogeared, and my handwriting had gone all lazy and sloppy. (ADD much?) But oh how those brand new notebooks made my heart sing!

The only thing better than a fresh, new notebook is a fresh, new backpack.

Lands’ End has long been our go-to resource for backpacks. I’m such a fan, I can’t tell you. They’re attractive, they’re sturdy, and they last for years. When I was asked if I wanted to participate in a back-to-school feature with Lands’ End backpacks, I wasted no time in replying with my choice.

My daughter picked out this Butterfly Floral ClassMate® Wheeled StudyHaul Backpack and they even had it monogrammed with her name on it.

We’ve never had a backpack with wheels on it, but so far I’m pleased. I love knowing that she’s not breaking her back with 20 lbs of school books, and it’s incredibly easy to maneuver, ven packed to the gills with all her new school supplies.

Of course since my one daughter got a new Lands’ End backpack, the other one wanted one too. I ordered her this Butterfly Floral FeatherLight 100 Backpack. I love how Lands’ End makes different sizes for different ages. I chose one of the Medium sizes for my kindergartner and one of the Large sizes for my 3rd grader.

My son still has a lot of life left in his ClassMate® StudyHaul Backpack from last year, but with these sale prices, I admit I was tempted to order him a new one too. Instead, I ordered a matching lunchbox and water bottle for my 3rd grader.

The boxes came last week, and everyone is delighted and eager for the first day of school. We put all of their school supplies in their new packpacks, and they are all lined up along the laundry room wall, ready for Monday.

I had romantic visions of taking some artsy photo of the backpacks all lined up in anticipation of the big day, but then I remembered that I still haven’t caught up on vacation laundry, and it doesn’t exactly make a complimentary backdrop.

I was able to convince one of my daughters to pose with her new backpack. This is the one Lands’ End sent for this review. The lunchbox was my own purchase. I love how it attaches to the backpack so she can have a free hand to open doors and things.

The other awesome thing about Lands’ End is their guarantee. I ordered a backpack for my son last year, and the zipper broke about 3/4 the way into the year. I called, and they sent me a new one immediately and I sent the old one back. They even paid for my shipping label. That’s the kind of service that makes me a customer for life.

Where is your favorite place to buy backpacks? Have you tried Lands’ End?

Disclosure: I received a backpack from Lands’ End to facilitate this review. I purchased the second backpack and the lunchbox. All opinions and experiences are my own.

I learned that her dream was to be a fiction author, and after many years of hard work, she has now published two works of fiction and has another one under way.

I downloaded her latest book, She Makes It Look Easy: A Novel, to my Kindle and read it on my way to San Diego a few weeks ago.

It is the story of a woman who moves into her dream home in a new neighborhood. She makes fast friends with a neighbor whose life seems to be the picture of perfection, and she soon gets caught up in keeping up with the Joneses. She learns, however, that sometimes things aren’t as perfect as they seem and finds that she has everything she ever wanted right under her nose.

I was hooked from the first page. Marybeth has a comfortable writing style, and the dialogues are believable. What I particularly like about this book is how relatable it is. I think almost any woman can relate to at least one of the two main characters in the story. Both have flaws but also redeeming characteristics that make you feel like you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.

The book also addresses the culture of Christianity that exists particularly in the South. Religion plays into the storyline but doesn’t monopolize it and isn’t off-putting like some Christian novels that I’ve read. Rather, you sense a real struggle for each character as to how to apply her faith (or lack thereof) to her situation.

I highly recommend She Makes It Look Easy for a light summer read.

** I’m looking for another book to read while I’m on vacation. I’m open to suggestions! **

Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links.

I often order iced coffee in the summertime when I’m out and about, but I’ve found that at home, it’s just too tedious to make. You have to brew a special pot that is stronger than the ordinary coffee you make for breakfast. Then you have to wait for it to refrigerate. By the time it’s ready to pour over ice, you’re out of the mood. I’m not much of a planner, so I never think to prepare the coffee earlier in the day. When I’m in the mood for an iced coffee, I want it NOW.

Enter the Brew Over Ice K-Cup® portion packs for Keurig.

Keurig has created some of their most popular coffee (and tea) flavors in a stronger formulation for use as iced beverages. They even sell this cute Iced Beverage Tumbler to hold your favorite iced drink creation.

I was eager to try it so I took my Keurig out of the box, set it up, and set it to brewing immediately. You do have to use plenty of ice because the coffee that it produces is hot and much of it will melt, but not to worry — they have formulated the coffees to be strong enough to withstand the watering down that occurs.

Also, if you don’t yet have a Keurig and you plan on making a lot of iced drinks, I’d recommend getting one of the full sized ones — perhaps the Keurig B60 or the B-70. The Keurig Mini Plus is adorable, but it doesn’t accomodate the height of the Brew Over Ice tumbler so I had to brew a mug of coffee and pour that over into the tumbler. But whatever. It still works.

I tried the French Vanilla iced coffee yesterday. I guess I didn’t use nearly enough ice because it melted immediately. Still, it was a yummy treat, even though it didn’t stay quite as cold as I like.

Today I tried the Green Mountain Nantucket Blend Iced Coffee, with much better results. First off, I made sure I filled the tumbler to the top with ice.

When I re-read the directions, I realized that yesterday I put more water in than I should have. It says to make a 6 or 8 oz cup of coffee, and I think I made a 10-oz. So today I put only 6 oz of water in. That did the trick because . . . Oh. My. Word. PERFECTION.

This is officially my new summer drink. Anyone wanna join me for an iced coffee?

If I have any complaints about the system, it is that they don’t have very many flavors — just the two coffee flavors at the moment. May I humbly recommend a chocolate variety? Something like the iced mocha I get at Starbucks. I’d buy a lifetime supply of those. I’m sure they’ll add more if these take off, which I’m sure they will, because they are delicious and convenient. What more could you want?

And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to buy more Brew Over Ice K-Cups…

Before I go, I’m linking up with Jill’s Things I Love Thursday blog carnival over at Diaper Diaries. Because I LOVE these new Brew Over Ice coffee K-cups for Keurig!

Disclosure: I received a Keurig Mini Plus coffee brewer and samples of Brew Over Ice coffee and tea K-Cups to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.

I’m not the only one to acknowledge her expertise because a couple of years ago, some publisher somewhere who obviously knows talent when she sees it, came across Heather’s blog and offered her a book deal. The next thing I knew, she was slaving away researching and writing and editing. It seemed like she as working night and day, but she always took time for a chat over early morning coffee and to answer my urgent questions when I was in a bind.

I’m always amazed at the sheer wealth of information Heather possesses when it comes to life skills and homemaking. She also has a knack for sharing this dry information in a way that is succinct as well as entertaining. I always get a giggle out of her posts, along with helpful information.

Her book is no different; it even shares the same title as her blog.

She sent me a copy of Home-Ec 101: Skills for Everyday Living for my Kindle, although I’d recommend buying a hard copy. For one thing, the graphics are clever and make it a nice book to own (you can see sample pages on Amazon). For another, as much as I love reading stories on my Kindle, I find that I prefer to have resource books in good old fashioned paper and ink. They are much easier to refer back to way.

The book is written in her signature witty style, and as I expected, is chock full of facts and tips for cleaning and making general repairs and running a household, recipes, and more. Organized into four sections (Clean It, Wash It, Fix It, Cook It) this book is a great resource for any household, and would make a particularly helpful gift for a new bride or college graduate. You’ll have to check it out!

When we graduated my oldest to a booster, I bought a behemoth combination booster seat (also a Britax) that had a 5-point harness to accommodate a child up to 80 pounds. The safety features were impressive, but admittedly, it was a bit inconvenient to move from car to car. Now, with 2 kids in boosters, we have several belt-positioning booster seats that they use interchangeably. They are adequate, but I am aware that they may not be the safest options on the market.

Recently I was given the opportunity to review the Britax Parkway SGL, a belt-positioning booster seat with features only the minds at Britax would think up. I was curious to see what would make this booster stand out over the ordinary belt-positioning boosters I was accustomed to, and I haven’t been disappointed.

When it first arrived, my 5-year-old daughter, to whom the booster will belong, was not happy that it wasn’t pink. Honestly, I was afraid she was going to balk about using it. Yes, she is THAT opinionated.

I could tell to see and feel it that it was cushy, so I set it in the floor and told her to sit in it and see if it’s more comfortable than the ones she has. Then I held my breath. I didn’t really expect her to fall for it, but the next thing I knew she was grinning ear to ear and proclaiming her undying love for her new booster seat. Who knew cushy would trump pink?

The next test was to take it for a drive. It has a featured called Secure Guard Seat Belt Anchor that comes up between her legs and holds the lap belt in place, low across the hips. This provides an extra measure of support and would help prevent abdominal injury in a car accident.

I was afraid that she might find that piece uncomfortable, but as it turns out, she loves that too. Best of all, she can position it herself. In fact, just this morning she was telling me that she loves her booster seat and especially the extra “buckle.”

Other cool features:

The Parkway GSL features the ISOFLEX Flexible Lower LATCH Connection System which secures the booster to your car seat so it won’t move around when there is no child sitting in it, and it also provides stability for the child in the event of a car accident.

It also has High Density Comfort Foam which is what we can thank for the cushy. I’ve never felt a booster seat that feels so plush.

Britax is also a pioneer in side impact safety.  Their True Side Impact Protection “distributes crash forces, shields from vehicle intrusion, contains the head and body, and keeps the head, neck and spine ‘in true’ or aligned, to limit injury.”

In other words, this ain’t your father’s booster seat. There I go again, showing my age.

The Parkway isn’t the only booster seat Britax offers. The Frontier 85 is a combination harness-2-booster. It has a 5-point harness with capacity to hold a child up to 85 pounds. You can read about its safety features on the site. This is the seat I would recommend for someone with a younger child. Since my youngest is 5, and big for her age, I didn’t feel the need to get a 5-point harness at this point, although I suppose it depends on the temperament of the child. Butt I’m getting ahead of myself…

Yesterday I was able to interview Sarah Tilton, a child passenger safety advocate that works with Britax, and Kristen, one of their test engineers. I was curious about the “new car safety standards” I’ve been hearing about, and with kids at transition ages (mine are 5, 8 and 11) I wanted to know their recommendations for moving kids out of booster seats.

Seriously, y’all, I took six pages of notes. I realize that I’m no stranger to lengthy posts, but I think I’m going end this here and write a follow-up post with what I learned about car seat safety. I took questions on Facebook and Twitter and I was able to ask all of them and then some. If you asked a question, stay tuned. And if you have questions, stay tuned. I think we covered it all.

You’ll also want to stay tuned for the Britax sponsored GIVEAWAY I have planned for All Things Chic later this week. Because if this booster seat isn’t chic, I don’t know one that is.