Candy Salad

 Yep...that's right! An oxymoron at it's finest!

I have three girls who love to have sleep overs.

And not just any kind of sleep over- they are multi child and filled with the bad foods that parents do not typically allow.

Once upon a time I allowed these treats in abundance but then it got a little out of hand.

So, as usual, genius strikes!

To help keep the candy consumption under control, I give you:

Candy Salad

I cut everything up into bite size pieces and mixed in some popcorn to keep the sugar levels down.

I was nervous about how this new creations would be accepted....

There was salty, minty, sweet, fruity, carmel, chocolate, crunchy, chewy.... I think every taste was covered

Everyone LOVED it!

 They could take a scoop and trade what they didn't like with other guests. It seemed like everyone enjoyed the variety and I found nary a piece left over (what other kind of "salad" will kids gobble up like that!?)

I have a feeling Candy Salad will be served at many sleep overs at our house!!

Behind the Screens

Bloggers have a voice but you rarely see their face.

Even more elusive is a glimpse into their inner sanctum!

Well folks- you are about to see mine!

This is what it looks like when I blog...

(photos taken by Maddy) 

There you have it!

Coffee is standard- so is the outfit... sometimes I swap out the top for another color (or a different color cami under).

I only occasionally wear my hair down in the summer- usually it is pulled back- oh, that dreaded southern summer humidity!

And sometimes that shelf full of toys will be empty.

There are other times that you will find a little one in my lap- otherwise, the scene is pretty commonplace when it's time to write.

I love my blog and sharing our life with all of you! I love my readers for taking the time to read our stories, and pin my recipes and (hopefully) try them, and I LOVE the feedback I have gotten so far!

Thank you so much for helping to make Head of the Herd a success!

Lover of American History

Call me a nerd or roll your eyes when I say it, but it is true- I LOVE HISTORY. It is so cool! Learning new things is important. Learning new things about history is even more important! Knowing our history is the key to understanding the present and shaping the future!

America is quite young compared to the other countries in the world. And to accomplish all that we have in such a short amount of time is astonishing. I feel very lucky to be located near a great deal of history. We are a stones throw from Washington DC in one direction and the mountain estates of the founding fathers are in the other direction. And that's not including the deep, rich history that is right in the town we live in!!

The history we learn in school is rather boring,glazed over and generalized and we have found, through visiting actual locations, the the history we are taught while growing up is often not exactly right. We have made it a point to take the kids to some of the historical locations we have access to. (and by we, I mean me, and by kids, I mean me! you know they do not love going to historical places... lets be real!)

Keep your eyes peeled for updates on the COOL places we visit! I will not give a history lesson I will just share the experience of our visits!

Laundry Day

Have you ever wondered what laundry day looks like here in my house? Yes, you say? Well then- get ready because you are in for a treat! You are about to feast your eyes on what a weeks worth of laundry (in this case it is actually 9 days worth- we are a little behind schedule!) for a family of seven...

Not too bad, right?

WRONG!

Nearly all of those mounds will be broken into two, if not three, loads.

I don't love doing laundry. The worst part is that we can spend an entire day washing, drying and folding- doing 100% of our family's laundry...and that very night, after baths, an entire load worth is waiting in the hamper already! If I ever win one of those contests where you can have a chore done for you for one whole year- guess what I am choosing?! LAUNDRY.

Here are some Laundry of the Herd factoids:

• Mike is the main laundry-doer. This is because I typically work my retail job the bulk of the weekend and he is able to get it all done in one stretch. He is my hero for doing laundry. Now, if I could only get him to put his socks in the hamper...
• Undies are my favorite thing to launder because I pile the clean ones up and have everyone fold their own (I can not believe I posted a picture of my dirty unmentionables on the internet. But there they are folks!)
• Socks are easy here too- the kids don't like to wear matching pairs- it's all the rage they tell me (thanks to Little Miss Matched and MUCH to my personal dismay) so those get thrown into their drawers as singletons. They sort through the pile of clean socks and take their own.
• Mikes shirts are my least favorite thing to launder because he is very particular about how they are done.
• I rarely wash his shirts.
• The Hubsters least favorite clothing items to deal with are my cardigans. All of which (... I am the cardigan queen!) lay flat to dry, with special care being made to keep their shape and intregrity and I don't like fabric softener to be used on them.
• Mike rarely washes my cardigans.
• For some reason whites are always the last load to get washed and it is normally several weeks before they get done. Kids are messy, we do not wear a whole lot of white.
• I hate to iron. I will throw wrinkly things into the dryer with a wet towel and run for 10 minutes on high.
• All shirts get hung up to dry
• Wet shirts hang on our canopy bed to dry (very romantic!)
• Did you notice the red clothing has their own pile/load? Take a guess on how many white-turned-pink clothing items we have?! It happens a lot. Reds must be washed only  with reds. Even if there are only two pieces.
• We have a "king capacity" washer and dryer set. and they are a matching pair
• We are "top loader" people, but our machines are still high efficiency
• Tide is our detergent of choice. I have tried many and it is still our favorite.
• Two types of fabric softener are used here: Liquid Downy with the pink lid and scent free dryer sheets (brand doesn't matter much)
• I am the stain master- I can count the items that have been ruined forever on one hand. (less the items that got bled on from color-mixing)

These are our Hampers

 

 

But they don't really work well for us anymore. We bought them when we had just the three girls- they were in the laundry room and each daughter had a canvas bin for their clean clothes.

This is our laundry/mud room:

 

 

Let me start by saying that The Hubster is horrified that I put pictures of the laundry room on here! This is just to show how this space doesn't really work well for the vast amounts of laundry we do each week! We built in the pantry to maximize our grocery space but the space for laundry, which is a daunting task here, has been given very little attention (both by us and the dude who built the house. I guess the person who crafted the floor plan can take some credit as well...). We fold clothes on our kitchen island which is the hub of our house. Makes for the perfect large surface to make piles of fluffy, warm, freshness but it is kind of hard to make dinner while laundry is going on. Once the newly washed clothing is folded at the island, it is moved in to child specific piles on the adjacent counter.... We need help!

What I would really like to do in our laundry area is this:

A counter remnant that is placed beside the washer and dryer, with shelving to hold laundry. BRILLIANT! I just need to talk Mike into building it. I think it will fit. And I think it will be very useful. I neeeeeeed it. Truly, I do!! Folding could be done on the counter space IN the laundry room and the clean stuff goes in the assigned baskets for everyone to put away!

 If I ever get the opportunity to build a home, I will design a crazy laundry room. *stream daydreaming music* 

 

Doesn't this feel like a lovely place you want to be?! (even if it doesn't make you feel like you want to be there to do laundry!)

No matter what, my dream laundry room will have two sets of washers and dryers so maybe we can get through Mt Laundry twice as fast and move on to something that is way more fun... as long as it doesn't involve getting our clothes dirty in the process!

Battle of the FroYo

Gone are the days of TCBY- the newest trend are these places where you help yourself to soft serve frozen yogurt and a toppings bar. The first to open was Sweet Frog and it was an instant hit. The second establishment to embrace this style of dessert here in my town was Honey Bee followed by Zinga!. We have now eaten at each establishment so I thought I would share my take on them, you know, in case you haven't been to one or any.  Or, if you are not in my area... you may just be curious to what my opinion is. At each location I had a swirl of vanilla and chocolate because that is something each place offers all of the time.

 

   

  Sweet Frog has the softest color palette and seating is fairly limited. This is due, in part, to the popularity of Sweet Frog. It is always busy which I like to see in any local business. Sweet Frog is located in a pedestrian shopping center, right beside a large movie theatre so it is really convenient if you are strolling around on a nice day or catching a movie and dessert. If you have promised the kids ice cream, Sweet Frog is not the ideal choice because parking is hard to come by and none of it is close to the shop. 

I like that there are three sizes of bowls to choose from and the toppings bar has a wide selection; from fresh fruits to candies, chocolatey to fruity to nutty things. The one major complaint I have is about the topping bar. It is a Bain system which means everything is in open containers, covered with a sneeze guard, that you can  scoop from freely.  On several occasions I have skipped toppings I enjoy because other toppings have fallen in. I have also witnessed misplaced toppings being tossed back into their rightful home. I don't really care if the foods land between the bains or directly into another bin- the misplaced foods should be thrown out. It may not be unsanitary but it is a cross contamination risk with food allergens. My favorite topping is the Cocoa Pebbles and peanut butter sauce, neither of which are offered at the other two brands in town.  

 The quality and selection of frozen yogurt are both pretty good. The staff at Sweet Frog is your typical cross section of teenagers. You will find them faithfully standing behind the counter ready to accept your payment. But that is about all they do. I have yet to receive a warm welcome or a warm good bye...even a smile would be nice. Now that we have been there several times we expect this level of service but for a first timer who knows nothing about this new self-serve concept, a little bit of interaction from the employees would be helpful. The owners are usually there although I have never been helped by or had a conversation with them.

   

HoneyBee was the second establishment to hop onto the self-serve train here in town. When I first started this review I had left it out completely until my husband reminded me that it existed. So right off the bat, I can tell you marketing is an issue for them. This shop is located near a high end food market in a very small retail strip that also houses a nail salon and dental office. We had to make it a point to go there but parking was dreamy. Seating is plentiful both inside and out. The decor is bright and you will find suggestions to the HoneyBee name sprinkled about. We found the same typical teenager employees but they welcomed us when we walked in, which is already an upgrade from the first place. One thing I will mention- the smell of bleach when we walked in made my eyes water. Probably not the norm but it really bothered me. HoneyBee has the same set up as the others; pick your bowl, hit the soft serve machines and add your toppings. Reviews that I read online stated that the yogurt was too hard and icy. I found it to be the exact opposite! Despite feeling like I was in a blast chiller, my frozen yogurt was nearly soup after my very short trip through the toppings and register area.

The one topping that we found to be unique to HoneyBee is the chocolate covered waffle cone pieces, and the Hubster really enjoyed those. Other than that I would say the offerings at the topping bar was, of the  three locations,the least appealing to my tastes . As far as the taste of their yogurt, I can't really say because my mouth was tingling from the bleach vapors in the air. The Hubster proclaimed that HoneyBee was the one location that left him wanting another serving, so he liked it! I was delighted to find vanilla bean specs in my frozen yogurt! Another unique product to HoneyBee is the offering of smoothies. We did not try one, but it is worth mentioning. It took a lot of searching, but I did find a facebook page for this location and their website is under construction- both of which are not helping their marketing issue.

  

Zinga! opened most recently and they made sure we knew about it far in advance. They are nestled in a busier shopping center, near a Target and beside our favorite grocery store. While it's not a place that will see a lot of foot traffic from folks walking by, it is in a location where a lot of people run errands and makes for a great bribe! Where Sweet Frog really doesn't need to advertise simply because of where they are located, the others DO need to advertise. And Zinga did. Several of my friends got mailers (we did not!!) and their facebook page has hundreds of fans already and they have only been open for about two weeks.

 So far I can not really tell you anything I didn't like about Zinga. When we walked in, we were greeted by an enthusiastic employee who personally guided us around the shop and through the process. He was energetic and really sold us onthe product. As a marketing and customer service connoisseur, I say Bravo! The walls are not too busy, seating is abundant (I especially love the large L-shaped seating area!) and when you walk in you smell the tantalizing aroma of Bottomz- brownie or cake bottoms baked right there to top with frozen yogurt.   

 The FroYo flavors are pretty typical although the swirl of watermelon and tropical sorbet was ridiculiously tasty! I love the topping dispensing system on the walls! They are a little difficult to use, but in hindsight that really helped keep the kids under control. It is sanitary- nothing gets mixed together unless it's in your own bowl and no worries about food allergies. I doubt I will ever see someone brush toppings from the counter into their hand and back into the containers on the wall and that makes me happy. You also do not have to worry about kids (or some seriously mannerless adults) sticking the serving spoons in their mouths. Ask me why I do not eat at Golden Corral... you will love that story!! 

The toppings area is split into two areas. One is along the wall and one is an island that is a cold Bain. This took some serious kid corralling but the Bain can be used from both sides so I can see where it would cut down on congestion. You will likely find the owner here too, but he was walking around talking to people and working the register. The gooey stuff comes in hot and cold variates: chocolate and caramel. One addition that no one else has is white chocolate!

 Teens are also employed at Zinga.The sweet kid who was lucky enough to get us was great!! He was pleasant, saying hello AND good bye, asked if we found everything okay and if we were apart of their rewards program and told us about their grand opening.  Despite the kids buzzing around in excitement, he didn't break a sweat. He knew his stuff and handled our chaos with ease. Ah, and the rewards program... besides Zinga being very close to where we live, in a location where we do business a lot, they have a rewards program. You can never go wrong with free stuff! And the best part is that they keep track of it in their register system so it's one less card I have to carry around (and try not to lose). When you sign up your first 10oz is free and each purchase after that earns you credit towards another free one. Okay, so that is everything I love about our new FroYo place. The only downside is that I miss my cocoa pebbles. And my peanut butter sauce. I would be elated to find those living on the toppings bar soon! And, I would REALLY like to see a smaller size bowl- my kids thought they were getting jipped by the small amount of ice cream in the large sized bowl

(that's on me- keep in mind this stuff is priced by weight at all three brands)

                

There you have it! Three brand new, self-serve frozen yogurt business' that all opened in the last year. Will all three make it and thrive in the already over populated ice cream market? I guess that is for the consumers to decide! I know where we will spend the majority of our ice cream budget! If you are local and haven't yet gotten to try each brand, I really encourage you to do so soon! It was fun for the kids to taste test and give me their input for this review! (yeah... it was for the kids! I love ice cream. It is my favorite food group. if I could live on it I would!)

To find out more about each local store, click on their links above, that will take you directly to their facebook page.

For a complete list of flavors, nutritional content and other brand-specific information, you can check out their corporate website:

Sweet Frog

Zinga!

HoneyBee

*DISCLAIMER*

We are just enjoyers of ice cream. We were not, in any way, compensated for our treats or statements in this blog.

However, should any of the mentioned companies wish to sponsor my love of frozen goodness, I will graciously accept!

**CREDITS**

All pictures in this blog post came from the individual facebook pages of each local franchise.

Taken and posted by each brand.