Purina Muse cat food review with Chewy.com!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Chewy for the review  free of charge.**

There are a few surefire ways to tell if your pet is spoiled, it could be a giant pile of toys or it could be getting fancy foods. This post is about the latter and a rather special box of cat food Aleister received from Chewy. We received the Purina Muse creatables variety wet food pack which retails for $22.24. As always my shipping was extremely quick, I ordered on the morning of the 7th and I received my package the following evening.

This variety pack comes with four bags of crunchy bites, six pouches of gravy sauce and six containers of tender filets. It also comes with a small recipe book which you can use to customize your cats meals or you can customize your own. If you follow along with the recipe book two of them will include just the sauce and meat, however if your cat prefers it mixed in with dry food you can always cut the dry food portions in half or add it to the dry food you already have on hand.

All of the food in this pack is grain free and made with real fish + poultry, there are no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives and it is also free of corn, wheat and soy. Each item can be used together or you can give them to your cat as a treat or meal topper such as adding the sauce to their favorite food. For it being cat food it doesn't smell all that bad and if you were to just look at the meat cups without knowing it was cat food, you could mistake it for just a cup of shredded taco chicken. Aleister has been getting a bit of the royal treatment and won't eat it until everything is stirred up to his liking which gives us a chuckle. By the way is tail swishes from side to side as he eats and from the noises he makes while eating, we can tell he has a fondness for this cat food.

This pack is easy to use and Aleister is eager to try each of the flavors included in the pack. Price wise I don't think it is too bad if the pouches are spaced out a bit, though if you use all three pouches together as a meal you'll get six meals which comes out to about $3.66 a meal which can be a bit much on the wallet after a while. Aleister has enjoyed this brand quite a bit but I think we will stick with something a little more wallet friendly for now.

Do you have any pets? If yes, have you tried out Chewy.com? Their prices are pretty great and shipping is quick plus their product selection is massive. If no, what type of pet would you like to have if you could?

Goliath Games Review!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Goliath for the review free of charge.**

We are a big board game family, we usually play a board game every few days and sometimes we will play a game each night for several days depending on what we have going on for the week. We have a huge game shelf but we are always looking to add to it so when I was offered a chance to work with Goliath reviewing some of their board games, I couldn't say no! My kids and I were sent two different board games to test out together.

Wordsearch (Retail $17.99) - This game is recommended for ages seven and older, however my son who just turned six was able to play it just fine. I think this game is a lot of fun and it helps my youngest (who is in kindergarten) with his spelling and word recognition. Each person gets their colored tiles which fit perfectly into the half bubbles on top of the game board to highlight the words as you find them. The game features different inserts that have an assortment of words so you can switch which sheet you are using. How do you play? You slowly turn the outer wheel to reveal a new word then all of the players race to find the word on the board, at the end of the game the player with the most tiles on the board wins. If you have younger children and they don't want to race for the words, you can just have them take turns looking for each word. We kept our tiles in the bags but you can also place them in the corner pockets of the board to access them easier.

Googly Eyes (Retail $19) - This game is recommended for ages seven and older but again if your child is able to understand the game and are younger they are more than able to play this game. This is a big favorite for when we get together with extended family for a family game night because it is pictionary with a twist. Instead of just getting a word and having to draw it out to make people guess, you have to wear a pair of glasses with inserts that slightly distort your vision so drawing and guessing are a bit harder. This game needs to be played in teams of at least two, however you can have up to sixteen people playing. At this point though we've played the game enough that we know all of the words so it is easy to guess what everything is, I wish I could find re-fill packs for this game so we can keep playing. Some of our doodles didn't look anything like they should have which produced a lot of laughs and good times, the glasses have a Easy, Medium and Hard inserts to make the game exciting. When you are wearing the glasses you will kind of look like a mad scientist! The glasses can fit over regular glasses but depending on how comfortable the fit is you may want to take off your regular seeing glasses when using these. I like that they have different categories to draw such as characters or objects. If you win or not is up to how well you and your partner can doodle and guess! It is always fun to see who ends up winning. Depending on how many people are playing and how the dice rolls go we can get through a round in about half an hour.

Three very unique books from Candlewick Press

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own and they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Candlewick Press for the review  free of charge.**

I've worked on and off with Candlewick Press over the last year and I am always excited to receive books from them because they have so many innovated books. I own dozens of books so you'd think I've seen it all right? Wrong! I am constantly surprised by the books Candlewick Press sells and I am going to be sharing three of them with you here today.

 A World Of Cities (Retail $25); Normally the books I receive all get get sent in one box, however this one was sent on it's own due to it's size. The book measures 10 5/8" x 14 9/16" which is larger than most infants! Along with it's large size this book is a bit different than your every day book because you have to hold it horizontally in order to read it. The book allows you the chance to visit dozens of cities around the world learning about what makes each one special all while sitting in your living room. I enjoy the amount of information and illustrations they included for each city. The colors and fonts on each page are eye catching and help keep the reader drawn to the book. My children seem to enjoy looking through this and learning more about each city. The only downside to this book is that it is hard to fit on the bookshelf.

Where's Waldo? The Spectacular Spotlight Search (Retail $18.99); When you first open this search book it may look it would be a little difficult to find Waldo since the pages are black, however this book has a magic search tool to help you out. The wand has a white star on one end and a smaller circle on the other end, when you slide the wand between the pages it highlights the characters above the white start/circle. The book makes it to where it takes a little bit longer to locate everything since it takes longer to search the page, this way the kids get more out of it. Along with Waldo each page has several other icons and characters for you to locate. Not only did the kids have a blast looking through this book, but I've had a great time looking through it as well. Where's Waldo was a favorite book of mine when I was growing up, it was always fun seeing all of the different characters and situations hidden in each image so I adore that they sent this book.

Ten Horse Farm (Retail $29.99); Almost all of us have either owned a pop-up book or have seen one sometime in our lifetime, but this pop-up books surpasses any I've ever seen. The scene on each page the most detailed and biggest pop-ups I've ever seen in a book. My kids love this book as well, and have a lot of fun flipping through it seeing all of the horses. Only one of the pages have had an accident where a horses foot came apart from the page so he no longer stands up but the kids don't seem to mind. This book is perfect for children learning how to read, it will keep them entertained and each page only has a few words on it so it will be easy for them to read. Want to see a short video featuring some of the pages being shown? Check out my Instagram to see the video I shared.

February Beauty & The Book Giveaway!

I am a big bookworm so I often peruse the book section when out shopping and if I happen upon a book that seems worth while I will usually pick up two copies, one for me and one for a blog subscriber to enjoy. I've hosted similar giveaways in the past and could never settle on a name I really enjoyed, so after thinking about it I decided to do a play on one of my most beloved movies Disney's "Beauty And The Beast", thus these giveaways will now be called Beauty And The Book. This giveaway is put together and sponsored by me, it has no affiliation with the book author or any of the brands that make the products included in the giveaway.

Valentines day is just around the corner and as you can see I've used the pink/red theme commonly associated with Valentines day for my giveaway. Following with the theme the book I selected for this month is called Dangerous Creatures, it is classified as a paranormal fiction and described as "a dangerous new tale of love and magic" the main character is a Siren and the book follows along with her journey. I was drawn to this book because of the cover and because it reminded me of the series The Mortal Instruments.As a bonus the cover even has red lettering and a heart shaped lollipop! 

Also included in the giveaway is a hair mask, two face masks, a bubble bath bar, three mini coconut orchid bath bombs, a coconut orchid lotion, a coconut orchid shower gel, three nail decal sheets, two one application lip gloss samples, a adorable sea creature sticker, a rainbow daisy stretch bracelet, two mini pens, a pocket mirror featuring flowers and says "Love In Bloom" (a local flower shop), a red dust plug for your phone, a Lord & Berry nude lip liner, a NYX matte lipstick in the shade Copenhagen plus chocolates of course! 

This is open World Wide!! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 02/23/2019
 
 Giveaway winners are announced on FACEBOOK, If you would like to see who won my latest giveaways please visit and like my facebook page.
 
Giveaway entry question: Please leave me a comment telling me a possible theme you'd like to see featured for a "Beauty And The Book" giveaway.

OR

Tell me one of your favorite books.

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Send a Free Valentine’s Day card to the patients at a Children’s Hospital!

When ever I get the chance I enjoy doing random acts of kindness, it always brings a smile to my face knowing a simple gesture could make someone else's whole day or even week. Random acts of kindness don't always require a ton of money to do, they can be as simple as helping someone carry their bags, offering to lend a shoulder to cry on, sending a birthday card or giving a stranger a flower.

January is now officially over and we are headed towards Valentines day, I recently learned that many children's hospitals across the US offer you the chance to send Valentines day cards to the kids in the hospital. What will it cost you? Nothing it is completely free, you just need to fill out a short form with your name, a encouraging note or joke and select which card you'd like to be given out. After all the forms are in the hospitals print out the card and distribute them evenly among the kids. Many of the children in these hospitals will not receive the chance to have a card party like many school children do, which can make them feel left out so this gives them the chance to still have a card party!

I've put together a list of some of the Children's Hospitals I've found that participate in this event. There are dozens of Children's hospitals across the US, I've listed what I could find available online so if you don't see your local hospital I'd look on their website or contact the hospital directly to see if they participate.

Arkansas Children's - Also accepting craft supply donations

Boston Children's Hospital Trust (Massachusetts)

Children's Health (Texas)

Children's National (National)

Cincinnati Children's (Ohio)

C.S Mott Children's Hospital (Michigan)

Los Angeles Children's Hospital (California)

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (California)

Phoenix Children's Hospital  (Arizona)

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital  (National)

Texas Children's Hospital (Texas) 

Wine delivered to your door with Winc!

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Winc for the review free of charge through the US Family Guide.**

I am not a very big drinker, and I am extremely picky when it comes to finding something I actually like but I do have family members that love a good glass of wine so when I was offered the chance to try out a box from Winc I agreed and knew it would make a few people happy. If you've never heard of Winc, it is a monthly wine subscription box that delivers four bottles of wine personalized to you based off of your Winc profile.

The first step to getting your wine box in the mail is to fill out a wine profile, the profile is quite simple to fill out and they ask a number of questions including how you like your coffee, if you like berries, how much you usually spend on a bottle of wine, etc. Since my husband was going to be the main person testing out and drinking the wine, I let him fill out the flavor profile. At the end of the short survey they also ask you to select how many red wines you'd like vs white wines, if you love both you would be sent two white and two red, however if you love red but don't mind a glass of white wine from time to time you could get three reds and one white. Before fully placing your order they will show you a summary of the wines they selected for you along with how much each bottle cost. If you see a bottle of wine you don't think you'd like you can easily switch it out for any of the other wines on their website. 

Which wines did we end up with? Our box included a 2018 Mercana Malbec, a 2017 Clink sparkling white blend, a 2017 Endgame Chardonnay and a 2017 Finke's sparkling Chenin Blanc. One of the wines we included in our box actually wasn't for us but for my step-fathers dad to enjoy over the holidays. The most expensive out of the four was the bottle of Endgame which goes for $28 if you are a Winc member or $32.99 for non-members, and the cheapest was the Malbec at $15 per bottle for members or $16.99 for non-members. 

After you place your order you can choose to receive text updates on when your wine ships. They will text you once when your box first ships, one the day before it is supposed to be delivered letting you know when it is expected to arrive and reminding you a adult 21+ with ID needs to sign for the box and a text when it gets delivered. I have not received any other text messages or promotions from them via my cell phone aside from the shipping update which made me happy they weren't trying to spam me. Now let's get into taste notes and our thoughts on each wine. 


 

2017 Endgame Chardonnay ($28 Winc Price); Our family eats a lot of pasta's and cheeses and this wine is said to pair well with fish, pasta with cheese sauce, cheeses and veggies. It has notes of apples, butterscotch, candied lemon and vanilla with a alcohol  percentage of 14.5%. This was actually the first wine out of the box that we decided to try out, it seemed to go over well with most who tried it and the whole bottle was finished which is a good sign.

2017 Finke's sparkling Chenin Blanc ($18 Winc Price); This wine pairs well with Thai, cheeses, cured meats and veggies. It has notes of green apple, honeysuckle, lemon and nectarine with a alcohol percentage of 12.5%. This wine was actually the favorite out of the four we received, it was slightly sweet and didn't leave a bitter after taste in your mouth. As odd as it sounds it went well mixed with a little bit of cranberry juice, I jokingly mentioned doing it to my husband so we decided why not and it actually wasn't bad.





2018 Mercana Malbec ($15 Winc Price); Pairs well with pizza, pork and BBQ. It has notes of plum, red cherry, spice and vanilla with a alcohol percentage of 14.4%. This wasn't quite as loved as some of the others and I think there is still a decent portion of the wine left in the bottle but it isn't the worse wine in the world either. Depending on your mood or if you have it with food vs drinking it alone you may have a different experience.

2017 Clink sparkling white blend ($18 Winc Price); Pairs well with shellfish, cheeses, cured meats and fruits. It has notes of candied lemon, green apples and white flowers with a alcohol percentage of 12.5%. I would say this was the second favorite out of the four wines we received, it had a unique taste that wasn't unpleasant and it had a nice fragrance as well. 




Over all we were pretty happy with our Winc box, since we don't drink often I do not see us personally keeping a subscription box like this but it would make a nice holiday gift for wine lovers.

Trying out Dr. Elsey's Litter with Chewy.com

**This was not a paid post. My honest opinions were used, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.The products mentioned below have been provided by Chewy.com for the review free of charge.**

If you are a pet owner then you know that pets stink and with indoor cats it is even harder because they aren't able to go outside to relieve themselves so they use a litter box. Unless you are cleaning up after them as soon as they use the litter box then sometimes the house might smell a little funky, however finding the right litter can make a huge difference.

Aleister has been having a great time reviewing new products from Chewy.com and recently tried out the Dr. Elsey's Clean Tracks Multi-cat strength kitty litter ($10.99 for 20lbs). Aleister is an only fur-baby, but he stinks up the bathroom as if there were two cats living in the house so we thought we'd test out this litter. 

Even before testing out the litter itself I noticed something about the product I didn't like, the packaging! This 20lb's of litter comes in a rectangular shaped box that has no handles or straps to make it easy to transport or lift up to pour into the litter box, thankfully I am able bodied but if someone such as my grandmother were to test out this product I know she would have a difficult time. The litter itself isn't too bad, the pieces are bigger than some of the litters I've tried which makes it to where there is little tracked around the house. Smell wise it seemed to do alright, the box says to scoop twice daily and dump the whole litter pan once a month. I didn't fully agree with the dump the whole thing once a month, the litter more or less stuck in clumps at the bottom anytime he urinated so when you tried to scoop it would just break up and the smell built up after about a week, so if I were to use this on a permanent basis I'd dump it once a week. Aleister didn't seem to have any issues with the litter, however I don't think we will be using this specific litter again.