Brad's 13th Birthday Party (highlights, pictures, and recipes)

Saturday was Brad's 13th birthday. I started decorating and cleaning up the night before, hoping it would mostly stay clean. When I woke up Saturday morning, someone had taken down some of the decorations. Someone had also messed up the living room. The kitchen was back messy since my sister cooked. So, I have to now re-clean the living room and kitchen, plus add a few more decorations.

My nephew: asked that brat to help: he ran upstairs and hid. I was not cooking anything until I finished cleaning. I also had to go back to the store: Brad and a few others, mostly Brad, ate up the ice cream. I also couldn't find the bowls I bought for the party, in addition to needing ice and to pick up items from Krogers, I have to review. We also went to another store and I got a bundt pan for the tres leche cake. 

I got mostly everything cleaned. I cooked nachos (cheese sauce in one pot, meat in another, since the nephew's a veggie); made a salad; boiled some potatos; hooked up the chocolate fountain; heated up two cans of refried beans; made some corn dip (Go HEB). I also made the Tres Leche Cake ( I love HEB). I also put the silverware and paper products on the table in the front room. Then, I set up the chocolate fountain (sans chocolate) on the hutch in the front room. 

Problems with the party:

1. My mother started drinking the soda, prior to the food being done because she thinks she a boss (in her own words. SMH). Didn't pay for anything but she a boss.....
2. My sister and other idiots started eating the ice before the party. My sister also was stealing cucumbers out of the salad. Brad was too. 
3. The babies (great-niece and nephew) tried to open up the silverware. They also opened up the paper plates and threw them all over the floor. My great niece tried to knock down all the soda, on the other hutch, in the front room. 
4. My nephew was bugging me, every five minutes, about the chocolate fountain. This was the first time he has ever been a part  of the wonder, which is the chocolate fountain. 
5. Oh popcorn balls. I bought some popcorn balls, the day after Halloween. Kalen, my yougest, and Sariyah, my great-niece was fighting over the popcorn balls, even though it was plenty of them. I bought two bags. 

As you can tell, people seriously irritated me that day. My mother said why did I invite people to the party, if I was going to get irritated. I told her, if she could go back upstairs and not participate lol. I didn't invite relatives, who live here to the party. :-). Brad had a good time with the chocolate fountain. Poor marshmallows did not have a chance. The whole bag was destroyed. I bought pumpkin spice marshmallows plus regular marshmallows. I had also bought bananas but they did not make it until Saturday. I also used twizzlers and maple cookies for the fountain. 

 Finally, my recipes for the tres leche cake and corn dip.

Corn Dip:

• Cream Cheese
• Pico De Gallo
• H-E-B brand That Corn Relish
• Mix all together. MM MMM MMM Good. 

Tres Leche Cake

• 1-2 boxes of yellow cake mix
• 1 can of condensed milk
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• Aluminum foil
• Whipped cream
• 1 jar of H-E-B Caramel sauce( for the normal recipe). I forgot to buy the caramel sauce, so I used cinnamon chocolate chips. Or, you can use the caramel flavored condensed milk (mmm mmm good too)
• Make the cake as normally instructed.
• Mix the milks and sauce (or chocolate chips) together in a pot. (Turn on the stove first. Put pot on stove). 
• When cake is done, poke a bunch of holes in it. Pour milk sauce on top, until all of it is in the bundt pan (or whatever pan you are using). Cover with foil. Put in the fridge for an hour or until all the milks have soaked into the cake. Add whipped cream to the top. Enjoy. 

Mighty Handle Review (Bloggy Moms)

I reviewed the Mighty Handle  , in exchange for review from Bloggy Moms. This post does contain affiliate images.

The Mighty Handle provides a way to carry grocery bags or dry cleaning, without all the extra weight and hassle. Each handle can carry up to 50 lbs. I liked the Mighty Handle and wanted to review it.

I thought of those days back in Atlanta, when I went to Krogers and had to carry all those bags from the store, across the parking lot, to the bus stop. Then, wait on the bus, carry bags on the bus, sit down, head home, pick up bags again, walk to the house or apartment, without breaking a single bag, while taking a lot of breaks lol. The grocery store was about an hour from home, via the bus, but 10 minutes by car. Took two busses to get to the grocery store, which made the trip longer.

The handle can eliminate strain on hands and wrists. The handle also protects bags from getting damaged.

I tried out the mighty handle a few weeks ago. My child had a dr appointment. Krogers is across the street from the doctor. We usually walk to Krogers to get a quick snack, while waiting on my mother to pick us up. I had a few bags and used the mighty handle. It was nice.

While I was waiting, I struck up a conversation with a street vendor outside of Krogers. She had a lot more bags than I did and had to ride the bus back home and work. I gave her the mighty handle as a gift. I will be ordering another set. I quickly took pictures of her using the handle with my groceries. The handles held three bags of groceries with no strain on my or her wrists.


The Mighty Handle is 9.99 on Amazon currently. You get two handles. If you are a prime member, you can get the handles within two days.

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Kroger Indulge without the guilt Bzz Agent Campaign

I received a coupon for free yogurt smoothie bars, in exchange for review from BzzAgent. I bought the  triple berry yogurt bars. The smoothie bars also comes in strawberry banana. The products are low-fat and sugar free. I went to Krogers a week or two ago. I had to pick up a few other things for review as well. The yogurt bars did not make it past 24 hours. The whole family enjoyed them, especially my nephew (vegetarian and allergic to gluten), great-niece, niece, youngest son, and myself. In fact, there was a fight over the last yogurt bar. I got the last one and shared it with Kalen and Riah (son and great niece). When it was over, I took the stick and wrappings to the trash. I got followed big time by two big babies, wanting more. Yeah not a good look for me. One was crawling and trying to hold my leg, and the other was fast walking behind me. I had to give them another popsicle (another brand) from the freezer to calm the youngins down. I definitely will buy again, when I go to Krogers again.