Dyson DC35 Digital Slim Multi Floor Cordless Vacuum Cleaner Only $229.99 - HOT One Day Deal!

Update:  It's Back!!!  I ordered this woot deal when it was available in March and am loving my Dyson Slim vacuum.  It's just what I needed to keep all my tile and hardwood floors super clean even with a toddler dropping food and tracking dirt everywhere.  If you're interested in a Dyson vacuum, check out sellout.woot! and woot! where they are offering the digital slim and the dyson ball vacuums on deals today (5/9/12).
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Today, 3/29/12, home.woot! is offering a refurbished Dyson DC35 Digital Slim Multi Floor Cordless Vacuum Cleaner for only $229.99 + $5 Shipping.

We just ordered one from home.woot! and are hoping this lightweight cordless vacuum will be perfect for quick cleanups after meal times, hard to clean stairs, and easier car vacuuming.

As with all Woot deals, this deal is available until they run out for one day only (3/29/12).

This is a great price as a new Dyson DC35 Multi-Floor Vacuum Cleaner is currently on sale for $329 at Amazon (where it has an average of 4 stars from 200+ reviews!).

Cupcake Liner Organization - Repurposing a Jar

Rather than toss all our used food containers in the recycling bin, I like to repurpose when possible.

I admit, I’m selective about which containers I reuse and prefer containers without brand names embossed on the jar that can be customized after removing all labels and glue residue. I’ve found many of the empty food jars from items purchased at Trader Joe’s health food stores work great for repurposing.

Here’s an empty glass almond butter jar.

I just scrub the label off in the sink, clean out the inside, and run it through the dishwasher. So sparkly clean, it looks like a brand new jar!

Next I need to find something that could use a little organizing help. It’s not too hard around here, we still have a long way to go before we’re all organized. Here’s what I pulled out of the first cabinet I looked in.

I love to make homemade birthday cakes and cupcakes for special occasions, so I collect cupcake liners when they’re on sale or on clearance at the end of holiday seasons. Yikes, they are really starting to pile up!

Rather than having an unruly stash of cupcake liners stuffed in the corner of my baking cabinet, I now have a neat and organized stack of cupcake liners stored in a clear glass jar!

I love that I can see easily how many and what kind of cupcake liners I have on hand, they won’t get dusty stored in a jar, it looks so much better without all the half opened packaging cluttering up my cabinet, and it’s free. I would say it’s definitely an improvement!

It even looks great upside down!  I could add a fun label on top of the lid, but the jar is clear, so I’m going to move on to the tons of spring cleaning and organization projects that need tackled next.

I always have oodles of big projects going on, so I love little projects like this one where you can see an immediate improvement.

Happy Spring!

Vitamix 32-Ounce Container with Dry Blade, Lid, and Recipe Book Price Drop!

The Vitamix Eastman Tritan Copolyester 32-Ounce Container with Dry Blade, Lid, and Recipe Book is available for $107.47 after a price drop at Amazon.

This is the lowest price I found on the Vitamix Dry Blade Container. It appears that Amazon has matched the low price offered by QVC where it is also available for $107.47 ($99 and $8.47 shipping and handling).

I've been trying to decide if the health benefits are worth the high price to purchase a grain mill for our family.  After reading tons of reviews, I've been leaning toward purchasing the Vitamix Dry Blade Container for grinding grains, since we are loving our Vitamix blender and it's less expensive than several popular grain mills with good results and minimal clean up.

This price drop encouraged me to make the big purchase. I can't wait for our Vitamix Dry Blade Container to arrive, so I can try grinding fresh whole wheat, brown rice, oats, buckwheat, corn, and maybe even almond flour.

I'll share a few posts on my grain grinding experiments and results with our new Vitamix Dry Blade Container after it arrives.

Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant - Healhty, All-You-Can-Eat, Fresh Food

During our recent family vacation in Florida, we stumbled upon Sweet Tomatoes, a healthy all-you-want-to-eat restaurant within driving distance of Walt Disney World. After eating several meals in the Parks, I was craving something fresh and healthy but filling, and Sweet Tomatoes was an awesome food find that we will frequent again.

When entering Sweet Tomatoes, you start at a super long salad bar loaded with a rainbow of freshly prepared vegetables. At the end of the salad line you pay per person, so don’t worry about loading up your plate. In fact, I sometimes grab two plates of salad. I would be happy enough with just their salad bar with the endless variety of healthy ingredients, but after you’re seated you can also enjoy their other all-you-care-to-eat specialties made fresh daily. They have a bakery section including fresh baked breads and muffins. A potato bar offering baked potatoes and sweet potatoes with all the toppings. A soup bar with about 8 different varieties of made from scratch soups. A pasta bar featuring hot tossed mac & cheese and other pasta creations (I’ll admit I didn’t sample the pasta since I tried to select the healthiest main dish options). And don’t miss dessert with selections of fresh fruit, soft serve frozen yogurt with tons of topping options including homemade caramel sauce and more!

We loaded up on the salad (my favorite part), a sweet potato, a piece of multi-grain bread with honey butter, soup, and ended our meal with a swirl of frozen yogurt, sometimes over one of their warm homemade brownies. We ate quite a few meals at Sweet Tomatoes on our vacation and couldn’t get enough of their fresh quality ingredients. I wish they would open locations in Pennsylvania so we could enjoy this restaurant near home.

If you’re going to Walt Disney World and would like to try Sweet Tomatoes you’ll probably need a rental car to get to this location, but it’s worth a visit. Savings Tip: We joined Club Veg on their website and they emailed us coupons that made this a super affordable, healthy yet filling vacation meal that we highly recommend.

Sweet Tomatoes Locations and Menus

Update as of January 2014:  On a recent visit to Disney World, we ate at Sweet Tomatoes a few times. They accepted emailed coupons on our smart phone...no printing necessary, which is great!  The grandparents found the senior discount offered even better pricing than the coupons, but for everyone else the coupons worked well.  We still love and recommend Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant!

Free Walt Disney World Customized Maps

We recently went on a trip to Walt Disney World and my hubby found this fun Disney freebie, Walt Disney World Customized Maps.

You can highlight your favorite attractions and entertainment and receive your very own customized maps via mail of all 4 Disney Parks creating a fun vacation planning tool that doubles as a free Disney souvenir.

Make sure to order your maps well in advance of your trip, as we didn’t receive our maps before leaving for Florida. Instead they were a fun surprise waiting for us in the mail when we returned home. Our son had so much fun examining the maps to find his all time favorite rides and using the included stickers, that it was still worth ordering for a special keepsake and memory of our family vacation.

The maps are printed on a heavy paper. I think they would even work as art in a Disney themed kids room. Although the only downside is they are folded in two places for mailing purposes, and they are double sided (one park on each side). Otherwise, the quality is great. Enjoy!