Crayola Washable Window Crayons

$5.95 on Amazon

Today I decided while I was at the store to pick up some Crayola Washable Window Crayons just for a bit of fun. I didn't know how well they'd work but I wanted to give them a try.

With a price tag of around $5 I hesitated since I'd never heard of them before, would only get five colors ($1 a color seems high, doesn't it?), and then didn't know if I'd really enjoy them that much.

As for the last bit, I apparently had forgotten that I'm actually a child in a large man's body.

Because I had an absolute blast.

"Ho, Ho, Whoa!"

Now, I'm not one to brag but when it comes to drawing I absolutely suck at drawing. Like, stick-figures come out looking wrong, somehow. I still had to try: I had purchased these large crayons and I was going to see how well they worked.

I logged onto DragoArt, my go-to tutorial site for art, and found some children's drawing exercises that were appropriate for the holidays. I spent way too much time drawing Santa, then a penguin, and then a misshapen candy cane.

Throughout the process I was easily able to erase mistakes and guidelines with a dry tissue. Just one dry tissue could clean up a pretty fair amount of window crayon and the one time I had to un-create (read "erase") a horribly drawn candy cane that took up an entire window I wiped it down with a tiny bit of water on a sponge and it came up almost immediately.

I also wasn't sure how long they would last and if you look at the Santa picture I can tell you that I was genuinely surprised to find out that there's still probably enough red left over to do this drawing at least two more times without running out. Plenty of color for your dollar!

Hi!

The only way I feel these window crayons are lacking is that there aren't enough colors. A white crayon would have been nice for Santa's beard, hair, and fuzzy bits on his hat/boots or maybe for some snow. I'd have liked an opportunity to put a little more pizzaz into my pictures.

I could have purchased the Washable Window Markers or the other ones that have "Crystal Effects" (and may still) but since I know the crayons work I wish I could find them in more colors.

I really enjoyed these crayons and will continue to do so for at least a few more days. I have at least 3 windows to draw on and one more large sliding glass door!

Kroger Skillet Meals - A BzzCampaign

10 Minute Meals With Quick and Easy Sides!

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of Kroger stores and most of their Kroger-brand items. Sure, it's no Wegmans but since the two stores aren't in the same areas it doesn't have to be. Kroger stores are clean, well-stocked, and always have what I'm looking for.

When BzzAgent sent me an invite to the Kroger Skillet Meals BzzCampaign I was super excited to give it a try and looked forward to giving them a positive review. It never once entered my mind that the campaign items would be anything but great.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

Let's start with the positives. There are a few:

The Kroger skillet meal is supposed to be a quick-and-easy 10 minute meal fit for a small family and I have to hand it to them that this entire meal from beginning to end (garlic bread, chicken fajitas, and a Caesar salad) were all done in about 12 minutes.

I didn't actually think it would be done that quickly and was very pleased to find out I was wrong. The frozen meal cooked down quickly, heated up nicely, and was seasoned evenly by the time I was done. Frying up the included tortillas (as per the directions) took a little longer than I thought it would and if I were going to do this again I'd probably throw them in the oven for a few minutes instead of frying them for the sake of convenience but it's not like that added a bunch of difficulty or anything.

Bright colors, happy plate.

And that's where the points stop. One point in its favor. Then we move over to the other side of things.

The disappointment.

I'm sad to say that out of all the components of the meal the only thing that was enjoyable was cooking it.

The skillet meal itself was over-powered with the taste of peppers. I like peppers but it shouldn't be the only flavor coming through while I'm eating a piece of chicken or an onion.

It's pretty. Another plus, I suppose.

The Kroger garlic bread was bland dough without even a hint of garlic to it. I actually ended up adding my own extra butter and sprinkle of garlic powder but even the dough was just too thick and cloying. It was unfortunate that I broke my low-carb diet to eat these things.

I don't really even want to get into the Caesar salad at this point. It was a kit bag with everything included all in one package; a great idea with horrible execution. Absolutely nothing worked as it should have; the dressing was thin, the lettuce was limp, and the cheese was tasteless.

The leftovers.

In the end, here's my wrap-up for you all:

If you're looking for an extremely quick and very easy meal to feed your small family who aren't particularly fussy (or you're willing to add some flavors of your own, upping the difficulty slightly but possibly making this better while still being easy) then Kroger Skillet Meals and a few Kroger sides can be right for you and your family (except for the Caesar salad mix kit).

If you're looking for a delicious dinner that's quick and easy? Remember this little saying:

You can have it quick, easy, or delicious. Pick two.

Unfortunately, Kroger went with quick and easy, leaving out any trace of delicious.