Shelly Wutke

The only thing you can guarantee about summer is that it will fly by and back to school will be upon us all before we know it. This is the year to get a jump on your shopping by scoring some of the best picks for your kid’s backpack. 

Out where I live, the hills are alive with the color blue. Thanks to a bumper year for the amazing blueberry we’re all enjoying more of this sweet fruit than ever, and with my cupboards literally covered in them, I’ve had to think of some creative ways to use them.

  My experience with SLR cameras (however ancient) made me the perfect person to try out three of Canon’s latest and greatest DSLR’s – The Canon EOS Rebel SL1, the Canon EOS Rebel T5i, and the Canon EOS 70D. The goal of this test? To get behind the lens of these three for a few days and share the features of these beauties from a mom’s perspective, so you’ll know before you pick it up what it’s best for.

If you’re just starting out in your new place and are tempted to hit your parent’s house for a little ‘shopping’ for your linen closet, you’re in luck, because I’m here to save you from that experience.  With everything available for bed and bath right now, there’s no reason to suffer through hand-me-downs.

    Let me just start by saying that I can’t sing. At. All.   My family has asked me to stop on numerous occasions when I’ve been belting out the soundtrack from Frozen, but sometimes you just can’t help it. You have to sing along with Elsa.   Now that I have the KOHLER Moxie Showerhead and Wireless Speaker hooked up in my bathroom, I have a place to belt out the showtunes or turn up the morning music. Although anyone who has hearing and is within 20 feet of my house during shower time may not be so happy I’ve installed it, I think this just might be one of the coolest home tech devices I’ve ever tried.

Coffee might help bring you back to life in the morning, but what keeps you going during those long days of class and studying? Food and only food can give you the boost to stay alert and conscious when the days get busy.   Here are some high-energy recipes to give you a boost every day.

I’ve been experimenting with brain food lately, and found a recipe that takes all of those nutrients and combines them into one delicious energy bar. Although they’re chock full of healthy ingredients, they taste almost like a chocolate bar. The local coffee shop sells them and calls them ‘Brain Bites,’ but I just call them delicious.   I whipped up a batch of these little gems today – check out the recipe and my photos for the steps to make them.

It’s important to break your ‘must haves’ into ‘absolutely pack’ long before you head out the door. For some people the ‘absolutely pack’ includes everything but the kitchen sink, but because I’ve been there and done that, I can definitely share what you can safely leave behind and what is absolutely essential to bring when you’re heading back to school.

The amazing thing about summer vegetables is that you can make a new side dish for dinner every single night. Some of them are so good you may just opt out of a main course and stick to your sides.