three things thursday

Today's three items are very random, but they're favorites.

One: Sometimes you just need a little bit of sweetness and these chocolate delights hit the spot. I love them. Dark chocolate has antioxidants, so you don't have to feel guilty about eating them. :) The key is to freeze them. (My sister-in-law hides them in the freezer in an empty box of something her family doesn't like.) They're not the same just out of the bag. I eat two or three every day. They're a little pricey, but I stock up when they go on sale at Target for $3.00 a bag.

Two: When I used to travel for business a lot, I would look to see if the city I was going to had a Container Store. I love all kinds of containers and I love these in the kitchen. They're the Ziploc brand Twist 'n Loc rounds. They have a screw on lid instead of the pop on kind and they're heavier weight than others on the market. They also come in different sizes. The medium ones are three cups and the small ones are one and a half cups. Even though I don't microwave in plastic, they are BPA free.

I use these containers a lot to freeze in. I purchase the big bag of Tillamook cheese at Costco and divide it up into both size containers. They stack great in the freezer. I also pre-cut peppers and onions for fajitas and freeze them and veggies for cream of chicken noodle soup. The medium is a great size for freezing leftovers too--unless you have a large family--then you could just use multiples.

These come in packages of two most of the time, but often you'll find them packaged with two medium and a bonus small one. They have them at Walmart right now in new lid colors for $2.00. (They rang up at $2.50, so I took my receipt to the service desk and got an adjustment.)

Three: This is actually the random item. This little piggy arrived for Ella's birthday. It rolls around on the ground and laughs hysterically. It came from Ella's grandparents. (Yes, I told them they were wicked! :)) So Ella is thoroughly impressed by the pig (and laughs hysterically right along with it), while I was thoroughly impressed by how it came packaged. The box was packed with these long bags (I'm assuming newspaper bags), filled with paper from the shredder. We're working on being more "green" in our home, so I thought the idea was genius. I usually end up using plastic grocery bags to pack items for shipping, but then I deplete my supply for the small wastebaskets in the house. Such a simple idea. I love it.