We had a great time last week while BigSis was here in California visiting and helping me prepare for the big baby shower! We ate Mexican food every single day during BigSis' visit and may have over-indulged just a little bit, but that's just what we do. It's tradition.

Now, it's back to the grindstone and the gym for both of us. BigSis is back to work in Texas and today was my first day back to work after several days off.

We shared a ‘sneak peak' photo of these crackers the other day when we talked about the shower and we promised that we'd be back to share the recipe with you.

Crispy, Cheesy, Yummy, Chive Crisps

This recipe is similar to one that SisMama has made for years; with only slight variations like the chives and the rice krispies. You can find this recipe for Cheese and Chive Crisps on allrecipes.com.

These crackers were absolutely “melt in your mouth' delicious and each and every one of them disappeared long before the end of the day.

I was a little skeptical about the rice krispies at first because I had always made the original recipe that didn't include the cereal, but BigSis convinced me that they would be yummy and now I couldn't imagine making them without the cereal. And the fresh chives made these cheesy crackers even more special.

The only thing that we both agreed on is that the next time we make these, we would at least double the amount of Frank's Red Hot to give them just a little more kick!  🙂

These tasty little crackers would be great for any get-together – especially a cocktail party – so give them a try!

~LilSis

Posted under Food

We hope you've all had a chance to check out the Potato Ho Down by now!  If not, wander over to dlynz.com to see all of the great spud dishes.  We had a ton of fun putting together our Pink Potatotini!

While BigSis and LilSis have been in the same town and same house this week, we've had a chance to work on our blog a little bit, and are working on some enhancements.  Nothing too fancy, since neither of us are techies, just a little tweak here and there.

• You'll notice that you can now subscribe to the comments on a particular post, which is something we really like being able to do.

• We've also changed how we show our book list.  Instead of a list of our favorites, we'll be posting a link to the book we're currently reading (or cooking or baking from) in our left sidebar.  That featured book will change from time to time.

• All of our recipes will soon be on a separate page that you can access from the top Navigation Bar.

We have some other things in the works, so keep your eyeballs peeled for those, and let us know if you like the changes (or not!).

~BigSis

Posted under This & That

With all of this eating, we don't really need a dessert but we wanted one to finish out the meal, so it needed to be light and easy.  How about Mexican Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats!  To call these Mexican Chocolate is a BIT of a stretch, but it comes from the addition of cinnamon to the chocolate treats.  Whatever you call them, they're muy bueno!  I'm not usually a huge fan of Rice Krispie Treats, but I have to say the chocolate/cinnamon/vanilla aroma from these enticed me and I tried one.  They were so darn good!  Make these!

This is all you need! Oops, I forgot to show the chocolate chips!

Mexican Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats
(adapted from Cooks.com)

1/4 cup butter
Dash of salt
1 10-oz pkg regular marshmallows
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp Mexican vanilla
5 1/2 cups Cocoa Krispies cereal
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Butter a 9 x 13 pan, or line with non-stick foil.

Melt butter in a large pan over low heat.  Add marshmallows, and stir until melted.  Remove from heat and stir in a dash of salt, the cinnamon and vanilla.  Add cereal and pecans.  Stir well and quickly.

Firmly press mixture into prepared pan.  Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over the surface.  Cool and cut into squares.

Delicioso!

~BigSis

Posted under Food

A few years ago, I still had 3 cats instead of my current 2, and I really was getting tired of the daily litter box scooping routine:

• Find a plastic bag without holes

• Scoop into the bag and tie it up

• Take the filled bag to the dumpster – rain or shine, light or dark, Africa hot or Antarctica cold

If I was too lazy to make the trip to the trash, I'd occasionally leave the little bag of presents sitting on the front or back porch for later, and that's just gross.  There had to be an easier way to handle this chore, which had to be done every day with 3 cats.  I started thinking and wishing that someone made a contraption like the Diaper Genie, but for used cat litter instead of disposable baby diapers.  I went online, and voila!  Someone does make that contraption.  It's called the Petmate Litter Locker ($21.87 at Amazon).

Litter Locker

This little jewel does everything I want it to do.  I don't have to dig around for a plastic bag and I don't have to schlep the filled bag to the dumpster every day.  You just scoop the used litter into the Litter Locker with the provided scooper, and then turn the handle.  There is a long plastic bag in the Litter Locker, and when you turn the handle, you're essentially coiling the bag and it's contents around itself.  When the Locker gets full, you just empty the coil into the trash.

There is no odor, and you never have to touch anything yukky.  If you have several cats and like a really clean litter box, or your cats demand a really clean box, you can scoop several times a day if you want to.  It's super easy!  And anything that makes my life easier is a winner in my book!  I've been using the Litter Locker for around 3 years now, and am on my second one.  After a while, I think the plastic does absorb a bit of odor from storing all that poo, so I replaced mine when I moved a year ago.

You can buy the Litter Locker and refills at Amazon.com, PetSMart, WalMart, Petco and several online pet supply companies.  I highly recommend it!

~BigSis

Posted under Animals

Posted under

What a time we had at BlogWorld!  We won't bore you with all of the blow-by-blow details, but we'd be crummy selfish friends if we didn't share the highlights of the conference with you!  You can go to our flickr photostream to see more photos.

• It was incredible to be involved with the new Guinness World Record for the most social mentions in 24 hours.  The goal was to raise money for cancer.  For every tweet, facebook update or blog post mentioning #beatcancer, 1¢ was donated by ebay/paypal and Miller/Coors.  Over $70,000 was raised.  That's over 7 million mentions in just 1 day!

Jermaine Dupri at BlogWorld

• The keynote panel on “New Celebrity” was moderated by Brian Solis and featured Robin from the Pussycat Dolls (?), producer and Grammy winner Jermaine Dupri, singer Matt Goss, Don Lemon from CNN and Anthony Edwards.  Quite a diverse group, wouldn't you say?  That diversity ended up with a bunch of sparks flying around that we could have done without.  On the positive side though, Anthony was totally likable, and spoke sincerely and passionately about his cause Shoe4Africa.  Very smart of him to make friends with a bunch of big-mouths like us bloggers!

Anthony Edwards at BlogWorld

• We were really impressed with what Chris Brogan had to say.  Just wisdom from this expert; no BS!  We need to read his New York Times Bestseller “Trust Agents“.

• The final keynote session was moderated by Guy Kawasaki with Jenny the Bloggess, Kevin Pollack, and Chad Vader.  It was pretty funny, although I'd say a few too many f-bombs for my taste.  But Jenny was hilarious and totally held her own as the only woman on the panel!  Check out her stories on the alien apocalypse and William Shatner.  Go Jenny!

• We had a chance to chat with Lou Mongello from wdwradio, and got some great input on wherever the heck it is that BigSisLilSis are going.  Thanks for your thoughts, Lou!  All the best to you with wdwradio.com.

• And lastly, we had the awesome opportunity to meet Darren Rowse.  Yes, THE ProBlogger!  In person.  😀   Woo hoo!  Seriously, we didn't want to leave BlogWorld without meeting Darren because of the enormous respect we have for him, his expertise, and the way he conducts his business…with total integrity.  So we send a HUGE thank you to Darren for kindly tolerating our gushing, and giving us some extremely valuable input that we're going to be acting on asap!  THANK YOU!

Oh, and the big surprise that we mentioned yesterday?  It's a direct result of the ideas and encouragement from Lou and Darren.  Whatever could it be?  😀

~BigSis

Posted under Travel

Today, I'm sharing with you one of my favorite TomTom Santa photos. I did publish this one last year, but just in case you missed it, here it is again. Doesn't he look festive?

BigSis still hasn't been able to convince her two little furkids to pose in their new Christmas outfit she bought for them this year.  Since there's only one December ‘Caturday' left this month, I thought it might be fun to invite our readers to share any Christmas photos of their kitties dressed up for the holidays.

If you have a photo that you'd like to share and would love to see posted on our final December ‘Caturday' next Saturday, just send it to me as an attachment in an email to lilsis at bigsislilsis dot com. Make sure the photo is already resized to no larger than 450 x 340. I know this isn't much notice, but if I have the photos by Wednesday, December 23rd, I'll promise to have them up on Saturday the 26th!

Come on…it'll be fun. Don't tell me that BigSis and I are the only ones who dress up their furkids in Santa Hats and Reindeer Antlers! 🙂

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

Actually, that's not exactly true. At least it isn't the whole story. ShiKai Borage Therapy Dry Skin Lotion isn't just the best vegan body lotion I've ever used. It's the best body lotion I've ever used, period. Vegan or non-vegan, it's the best by a mile.

What's so great about it? It works!

The bottle claims that instead of working on the skin's surface, Borage Therapy works at the cellular level, fighting the cause of dry skin and healing it.

It also claims to relieve dry itchy skin quickly, and says that the skin will retain moisture to become healthier and more supple.

I don't claim to know what's happening to my skin at the cellular level, but here's what I do know for sure:

• My skin is softer and smoother than I've observed with any other body lotion.

• The softness stays. Even though there is no stickiness or greasiness, this lotion keeps working. When I shower the next day, I can feel a soothing layer of healing lotion rinsing from my skin. I didn't even know it was still there, but it was still doing it's thing.

• When I apply ShiKai Borage Therapy, it sinks in immediately. It doesn't go white on my skin, and it doesn't take a while to absorb into the skin. Who has time in the morning to wait on your body lotion to absorb before you can get dressed for work? Not me.

• I use the lightly-fragranced variety, and I love the scent. It's a very soft, almost citrusy scent. There is also an unscented formula if that's your preference.

• There are no animal ingredients and no animal testing is used. Sweet!

I found ShiKai Borage Therapy at my favorite hippie health food store, but you can also find it at Whole Foods, through ShiKai's web site, or at Amazon.com at a great price. I highly recommend it if you want to say goodbye to dry skin!

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

If you're like me and just realized that we have only 3 weeks from Thursday until Christmas is here, you're probably freaking out a little.  Or a lot!  You're probably also wishing for a way to get yourself organized so that you won't forget anything, AND your stress level will be under control a little bit more.  I found a few things that might help.

• Real Simple has a 26 day Holiday Blogathon going on right now.  What?  They didn't invite BigSisLilSis to participate?  Even though we're crushed, I do have to say there are some great tips there from some great blogs on all kinds of Christmas topics.
• i-village has a Christmas Planner broken down into the 1st week of December, the 2nd week, the 3rd week, Christmas week, Christmas morning and after Christmas.
• FamilyFun.com shows us how to transform a 3-ring binder into Ann's Amazing Holiday Planner.
• If you have a little time on your hands and are super-duper crafty and stampy, check out this tutorial for a beautiful Christmas Planner from Christine Rowland, a Stampin Up Demonstrator.
• How about a video for those of us who need a visual?  I have a jillion things to do but I sat here and watched this whole 7 minute video on making a cute Christmas Planner.  I couldn't stop watching it! Plus I really enjoyed the music from Josh Groban.
• TwoPeasInABucket's member gallery has this Christmas Planner that is absolutely gorgeous.  There aren't any instructions, but it's certainly inspiring to look at.  I'm pretty OCD and overly-perfectionistic, but this project is beyond me for December 2nd.  Maybe if it was July 2nd I would attempt this jewel.
• OrganizedHome has some Christmas Planner notebook ideas that are pretty practical.
• And last but not least, the FlyLady offers a Holiday Cooking and Decorating Schedule.

We'll send more tips and tools your way as we find them.  Meanwhile, take a deep breath, make a list or two, and enjoy this blessed season!

~BigSis

Posted under Holidays

I am so sore in such a major way today! I'm not complaining, though, I promise! Every “Owie” that I say outloud is a very good thing! Friday was my first day back to yoga in over six months. Even though I've been walking five miles almost every day and riding my bike for an hour on the other days, I've got muscles from my neck to my toes that apparently haven't been put to the test in a LONG TIME!

I'm done talking about the boot that was on my foot most of the summer and I AM finally, finally getting back to my yoga practice.  I never realized just how much yoga helped me deal with my stress until I was away from it for six months.

My class on Friday was probably the most difficult, yet, most relaxing hour that I've had to myself in months. One hour! Just. One. Hour. No Internet. No cell phone. No Facebook. No Twitter. Just. Me. And. My. Practice.  I love the instructor at the gym I go to on Fridays. She likes to instruct her class in the dark, which I love. She's calming, yet also motivating and inspiring. I knew I missed yoga but I really didn't realize how much until after my class on Friday. Afterwards, I almost felt like me again.

We've had a lot of changes going on in our lives these past several months and I basically let the stress and worry of everything take over ME! There was almost no ME left. (I'm sure some of it has to do with my major roller coaster hormones, but we'll talk about that later.) Like most women, we tend to take care of everyone else before we take care of ourselves. But, if I don't take care of  ME,  I certainly won't be able to take care of anyone else.

On Mondays, I'll go to my local YMCA where there is another fantastic yoga instructor.  Unlike the corporate gym, the locally owned Y allows him to use props, blocks, straps, and even bamboo sticks, which, by the way, give some amazing results when you massage your calves with them prior to your practice. I can't wait for tomorrow morning!

Since I go to a couple of different gyms, I'd love to be able to travel without a mat. I've always been a little curious to find out what it would be like to do yoga wearing a pair of these toesox.

Yoga Teacher Kathryn Budig (photo by Jasper Johal)

Every time I look through my new issue of Yoga Journal, I'm fascinated by their ads featuring Santa Monica Yoga Instructor, Kathryn Budig.

Amazing, huh? I'm really excited about getting back to my yoga routine. Maybe some day I'll be able to do this!

I wonder if I'm too old to dream about one day becoming a certified yoga instructor?

~LilSis

Posted under Fitness