We have truly been Adventure Girls this summer and it's time to begin to report back on the many wonders we've encountered. The memory card in the camera will get dumped and edited and I'll put together some fun facts along the way to document some interesting things we've learned. Stick around and see what we've learned especially if you're interested in travels through Virginia or are looking for new adventures for your own kidlets.

Oh the great coupons that are coming up. Check it out!!

Pillsbury Toaster Strudel® Save $.50   

Save $0.50 when you buy TWO any flavor/variety Pillsbury® Toaster Strudel® Pastries. 

Totinos Party Pizza Save $1  

Save $1.00 when you buy FIVE any flavor/variety Totinos® Crisp Crust Party Pizza® Products.

Pillsbury Refrigerated Grands! Save $.30       

Save $0.30 when you buy TWO any size/variety Refrigerated Pillsbury® Grands!® Biscuits.

Totinos Pizza Rolls Save $.40  

Save $0.40 when you buy TWO PACKAGES any flavor/variety Totinos® Rolls Snacks.

Pillsbury Cookie Dough Save $1 

Save $1.00 when you buy TWO PACKAGES any variety Pillsbury® Refrigerated Cookie Dough

Old El Paso® Save $.60 

Save $0.60 when you buy any TWO Old El Paso® products (Excludes Old El Paso® Refrigerated, 

Frozen OR Soup products)

Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks Save $.50   

Save $0.50 when you buy TWO BOXES any flavor/variety Betty Crocker® Fruit Shapes, Fruit by the Foot®, Fruit Gushers® OR Fruit Roll-Ups® fruit flavored snacks

Fiber One® Chewy Bar Save $.50 

Save $0.50 when you buy ONE BOX any flavor Fiber One® Chewy Bars

Bisquick® Save $.50    

Save $0.50 when you buy ONE BOX 40 OZ. OR LARGER Original Bisquick® OR Bisquick Heart 

Smart® Baking Mix

Gardetto's Snack Mix Save $.50 

Save $0.50 when you buy any flavor 8 OZ. OR LARGER Gardettos® Snack Mix

Reeses® Puffs® Save $.55       

Save $0.55 when you buy ONE BOX Reeses® Puffs® cereal

Cheerios® Cereal Save $.55     

Save $0.55 when you buy ONE BOX Original Cheerios® cereal (the one in the yellow box)

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Save $.55        

Save $0.55 when you buy ONE BOX Cinnamon Toast Crunch® cereal

Chex Mix® or Snacks Save $.50  

Save $0.50 when you buy ONE any flavor 4.5 OZ. OR LARGER Chex Mix® OR Chex® 100 Calorie Snack.

Betty Crocker Cake Mix/Frosting Save $.50      

Save $0.50 when you buy BOTH Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® Cake Mix AND Betty Crocker® 

Ready to Spread Frosting (any flavors/varieties)

Yoplait® Yogurt Cups Save $.40 

Save $0.40 when you buy SIX any variety Yoplait® Yogurt cups (Includes Original, Light, Thick & Creamy, OR Whips!®) OR any flavor Yoplait® Original OR Light Smoothie

Betty Crocker Warm Delights Save $.50  

Save $0.50 when you buy ONE any flavor Betty Crocker® Warm Delights® Bowls OR Betty Crocker® Warm Delights® Minis Bowls

Pillsbury Holiday Cookies Save $1      

Save $1.00 when you buy any TWO Pillsbury® Refrigerated Holiday Cookies

Nature Valley Granola Thins Save $.50  

Save $0.50 when you buy ONE BOX any flavor/variety Nature Valley® Granola Thins

Betty Crocker Supreme Brownie Save $.75        

Save $0.75 when you buy TWO BOXES any flavor Betty Crocker® Supreme Brownie OR Dessert Bar Mixes

Starbucks VIA® Save $1         

Save $1.00 when you buy any ONE package of 8-Count Colombia, 8-Count Italian, or 7-Count Italian Decaf Starbucks VIA® Ready Brew. Starbucks VIA® can be found in the premium coffee aisle near the Starbucks® bagged coffee. 

Biltmore Dressings Save $1     

Save $1.00 when you purchase 1 (one) Biltmore® Salad Dressing. 

Dessert Toppers Save $.75      

Save $0.75 when you purchase 1 (one) A&W™ Root Beer, Dr Pepper™ Cherry or Orange Crush™ and Vanilla Cream Dessert Topper.

Dr Pepper BBQ Save $.75        

Save $0.75 when you purchase 1 (one) Dr Pepper™ Barbecue Sauce.

Budweiser BBQ Sauce Buy 2 Get 1 FREE   

Purchase any 2 (two) Budweiser® Genuine Barbecue Sauces and receive the third Budweiser Genuine Barbecue Sauce FREE.

If you've ever had a little girl you know how trying it can be to keep Little Girl Hair from getting tangled. Then please imagine Little Girl Hair that has not been allowed to be combed for a month. Notice, I said allowed. Yep, each morning and usually several times a day I try to comb Joy's hair and there are meltdowns that take place. Sometimes there is biting. Yes there are issues.  So I wash it and condition it and hope for the best.

But she has nice curls in her hair. Ringlets in fact in several places and I finally realized that the baby hair conditioner wasn't going to really help me as the mats and tangles kept growing.

We have postponed the required haircut for Joy all thanks to Pantene Pro-V Conditioner. Whew!! And this is after she hadn't let us comb her hair for a month. Yep, I gotta say it was pretty amazing although it still took some work.  The haircut will still need to take place before too long most likely but now it won't need to be one that cuts out the worst of the tangles. Instead it can be a real haircut that makes the most of her beautiful face and is easy to care for.

And in case you think I'm the only one that has thought of this amazing cure for Little Girl Hair I can tell you that I mentioned it to a couple of other mothers and they said they use the same thing for the very same reason so it sounds like a very Cool Idea and one which should be passed along.

Comfort ran errands this morning with dh at Wal-Mart and apparently as they walked around she made an astute observation. "There are no walls here!"

Very true and cleverly said.

Whew!! I fixed my vacuum!!

First of, it would have been fixed long ago if I'd done this earlier so much of my frustration is my own fault. Actually, all of it is.

Second, I have the best vacuum in the world. I bought a Dyson DC14 All-Floors Cyclone Upright Vacuum Cleaner [refurbished] at Big Lots several years ago after I'd gone through 3 vacuums in about 5 years. I immediately loved it. In some ways it's like going from a PC to a Mac because you have to retrain your brain on how to use a vacuum because everything is so intuitive.

And then it stopped working. I should say the upright stopped working. I could still use the extension arm so I did all my cleaning this way. It wasn't perfect since it was slower but it worked and finally now that I'm working my way through my list of things to 'Get Done over the Summer' [yes, I am trying to keep up with  Totally Together Journal as much as humanly possible LOL] I pulled up the online troubleshooting guide on the Dyson website and walked through it.

I was several screens into the guide and on a page that I was definitely going to skip when I found the problem. It wasn't any issue pointed out in the problem solving guide. I had a blockage but it wasn't anywhere that I would've seen unless I had checked out that particular issue on that exact page of the problem solving guide. And the blockage was caused by me - because I had let the canister get too full before I emptied it and all the ick had packed back down toward the roller.

So, many lesson learned here. 1) Empty the canister early and often and 2) never underestimate the online problem-solving guide when dealing with a Dyson. Seriously though it was the process of going through the guide, step-by-step, that brought me to the point where I could fix the vacuum myself.  And now the vacuum takes care of the carpet in half the time, maybe less, and I can scratch one more thing off my list. This was a total win-win situation and I'm glad to have my totally awesome vacuum back and that is amazingly Cool!

I know that the page is a bit wonky right now... I'm working on it in between our Adventures, etc, but in the meantime don't forget that since it's a new month the coupons.com sidebar is recharged and there are new coupons to be found. Hop on over and grab what you need before they d-i-s-a-p-p-e-a-r.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! What rituals do you have or do you do something different every year? Did you do something different this year?

Comfort and Joy are still young but we have some traditions that are becoming entrenched in our family. For many it's the fireworks. We're lucky that we live within walking distance of the city's firework display so we leave the house when it gets dark, having put the girls into their pjs, find a spot and have a snack on our blanket while we wait.

Last week my mom sent an email to my brother and I to remind us to make our brownies for the day. Yep, brownies are a 4th of July ritual in my family. Growing up we had a full day on  each July 4th - from parades to be marched to brownies to be baked to family to be rounded up for fireworks. The brownies were our snack as we sat and waited for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to begin, just like they are at our house now.

But why brownies? My guess is that it's because it was something that my brother and I could make together and it didn't take very long to bake. Oh, and it's chocolate. Yum! My brother and I were always in the kitchen when my mom cooked and we were expected to help and being tall ourselves it wasn't long before we could do a lot to help.

Brownies are wonderfully collaborative. There's a little bit of measuring, some stirring, pouring, and then there's the best part - licking the bowl. Comfort and Joy have started helping me with the stirring. Growing up my brother and I got to where we could do it all by ourselves. I think having some activity in the kitchen that your kids can learn to do by themselves is wonderful. As they grow kids can learn to do more and more by themselves, under supervision.

The funny part is that our 4th of July brownies have to be from a box. I know I've blogged about Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies recipe. It is fabulously rich and well, I'm drooling as I type. However, it's box brownies that bring me back to my childhood and for this day I stick with what the nostalgia.

This is the role of brownies, or whatever the equivalent is in your family. It a traditon on a holiday for sure, but it's also an opportunity for our kids to find a way to be part of the collaborative process of cooking and baking. It's a way for them to learn measuring - which is a great form of math. It's a way for them to learn how to follow instructions. It's a way for them to learn independence and self-worth and isn't definitely a Cool Idea!

I've gotten the Cellfire comments pulled together and input them into my magic bean counter and let Random.org do it's magic here's what we got...
True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:4

So, Deanna G. you are my lucky winner!! Please send your contact information to whatacoolidea@yahoo.com and I'll make sure that Cellfire gets your gift card to you.

Thank you to everyone for passing along the great info and recipes for how you use products from Cellfire. It's great meeting y'all and picking up more readers. 

If for some reason I don't hear from this recipient I will pick another winner on July 7 by random.org and contact them. Thanks again everyone!!