Hello Fresh Returns to our house

Hi Dee Ho Peeps!!

It's Tuesday and we had a busy weekend round her cleaning up the yard and getting ready for spring.   

Let's get the hilarious things out of the way first so we can get down to business.

The clothing, see I'm being really vulnerable with you guys about what I actually wear every day. The only way it could get more real is if I took a pic with my bed head and jammies.   I'm not gonna lie though, I do have some good pajamas.  

This was Friday and yes, I had to leave the house.    I had a class at TCU, beginning hand embroidery and it's always chilly in the classrooms especially when it's warm out.    I slapped on some jeans, a t-shirt and pulled that hair back in a pony tail because it was windy and I also wanted it out of my face for my embroidering lessons.   

T-shirt: Daydreamer Prince (old)

Belt: floral (zero clue but it's very old)

Jean:  Kut from the Kloth , Nikki mid rise ankle flare. 

I'm wearing a size 2 in these, but Kut runs large so I'd say they are true to size. 

Now it's Saturday morning and we are off to the Depot and Lowe's to see if they have any garden veggies in stock.  It's a miracle I got a picture because the Hubster was fussing at me to hurry and leave.  And you can tell this because I left my upper body undergarments hanging out on the mirror.  😂

T-shirt: Fletchers Corny Dog from the Texas State Fair (IYKYK) (very old)

Skort:   32 degrees from Costco last year (small)

Baylor Bears baseball cap to hold the hair because it was really windy and also because I was wearing no makeup.  

I did get showered and dressed later that afternoon and we hopped down to the neighbors for some cocktails on the patio,  

Sunday was a quick trip to Sam's Club for some burgers and stuff and then back home for more yard work.  We had a few neighbors over Sunday evening for hamburgers, hotdogs and general spring enjoyment of the back yard.   

Monday, the start of another week and here we go:

Hair is up in a clip because I just jumped out of the shower and it ended up going back to the clip because the wind and humidity were working overtime.

T-shirt: Daydreamer Van Halen oversized (old)

Bike shorts:  probably Amazon if I had to guess (old & comfy) 

And finally, today, I have to run to vote and to Target and to take the Reggie boy for a burger because he's the big 5 today!   Fur babies always get a burger on their birthday around here. 

T-shirt: From the Chicago Cubs stadium store (old)

Belt: American eagle (very old)

Shorts: Wit & Wisdom, size 6, almost 3 years old.  Normally Wit & Wisdom runs large but these ran small and I'm glad because they aren't falling off but by the end of the day they will be and I do have to have a belt to hold them on.  

So, you can see, I'm no fashion influencer but then again, most of us aren't.  

Now, let's talk food!   I got an email from Hello Fresh asking me to come back and try them again and the deal was pretty sweet so I decided to give it another try.

When my box arrives the first thing I do is unpack it all onto the counter.

That's kind of hard to see but it's 2 bag of ingredients, one for each meal, and the meat is separated, the recipe cards and our bonus loaf of garlic bread.  

I grab the recipe card and sort everything from the bag to make sure everything is included, mistakes happen and I want to know ahead of time, not when I'm in the middle of cooking dinner.  

Now, the items that need to be refrigerated go back into the bag and the pantry items go into a tray with the recipe card.   

Then I do the same for the other bag.

The refrigerator items go right into the refrigerator in the bags with the labels of the recipe. So when I'm ready to cook I just grab that bag from the refrigerator and the basket from the pantry.

Now when it's time to start making dinner, I sort everything out and leave that paper bag sitting on the counter.  

As I prep and cook, all the trash goes into that paper bag so there's no running to the trash can every 5 seconds. 

When dinner is ready I can roll that top down and toss the whole thing in the trash.  Easy peasy super cheesey!

Now, what'd we eat you say?  Here you go!

One-pot Cowboy Turkey & Black Bean Chili

This was a great restart to Hello Fresh.  It was delicious and I had planned to have the garlic bread with this but I forgot to turn on the oven.  Just as well, we didn't need it and the we had lots of leftovers.  This got a big 👍👍 from Hubster and me. 

Chinese Style Speedy Beef Ramen Noodles 

And here we are, not pretty to look at but done lickety-split and it got a 👍 from the Hubster and RK. 

Will I make it again, eh, who knows, but it was pretty simple.

That's it and if you'd like to try out Hello Fresh for your family, here's a handy dandy link for you to use.

It goes without saying, but Hello Fresh isn't sponsoring me or didn't send me any free meals and didn't ask for my opinion in anyway.  They really just want me to pay my bill weekly and keep ordering.

Let's jump into my Why for this convenience right now.    Hey, you need to know your WHY for what you spend your money on, right?!   It's spring and I would rather be outside in the yard any time than in the kitchen cooking.  My house has to go on a hiatus until we start baking in the Texas heat but this makes dinner so much easier for us.   I can come in and get dinner on the table lightening fast with no emergency runs to the grocery or having to pivot for a lack of something I thought I had on hand.  We had quite a bit of leftovers too so Hubster had several lunches and we even had a second dinner from the chili.   Is it worth the $$$$, that is TBD but so far, yes for awhile it will be. 

Whew, that was longer than anticipated but we had the whole weekend to catch up on so I'm off.  I've got some Condo paperwork to take care of then I need to get up and out of the house soon!

Remember Peeps,

Peace, Love & Kindness to everyone

Samma 

Fat Fit Fun Spring 2026

Good Thursday Morning Peeps!!

I'm going to attempt to revive my blog...I know, I know, I say that about 4 times a year then I start well and drop off but you know what, I'm REALLY going to try this time!

Why? Because there is so much hate, negativity, divisiveness, etc going on that I just want to post ridiculous mundane things.  I mean if you are gonna scroll endlessly on social media then let's at least do  something fun, upbeat, hilarious...I don't know probably even boring.   You want funny, I might even give you an Outfit of the day post.  Why?  because I need people to know that not everyone who is home all day every day gets up and gets dressed like they are leaving the house for a job interview, brunch with the ladies, etc.   Let's be honest, most of the time we are wearing our "house" clothes and no makeup but hey, if you get up and get the full on scene done then good on you!   I'm a more mature age now and let's just say the IDGAF's have taken over!   I will run to the Dollar General with my comfy leggings, old sweatshirt and no makeup on and only stop on the way to the car to see if I'm wearing shoes.  

Let's just kick things off with today's look:

Let's just break down this hot mess of an outfit:  

Sweatshirt: old from boutique but brand is Chicka-D

Shorts; old, Judy Blue

socks: compliments of Bacchus parade 2025

I have a t-shirt on underneath until it warms up later today.

Hair; approaching wash day but I'm working out in the yard later so it's up in a clip.  

Makeup: zilch 

Golden Girls t-shirt underneath

(very old).  It says Future Golden Girl but I realized this morning it should say Golden Girl  

Yes, my clothes are too big-you don't need to tell me, my poor husband does that on a daily basis.  One day I will write a post about the 47 lbs. I've lost in the past 15 months.  That day is not today.  However, if you know me and see me out, ask me, I will be more than happy to discuss it.  There's a therapist somewhere with dollar signs in their eyes waiting to talk to me about food/body issues I've experienced throughout my life.   Once again, that day is not today.

Ok, now, let's talk about my most recent Fab Fit Fun box.  Remember those?  Did you even know they were still around?   I subscribed for several years, then I felt like it was a variation of the same thing every month and they changed their name and I left.   About 2 years ago I got an ad and it was for FabFitFun and I thought, hey, let's see if it's better.  And you know what, it is!   I enjoy my little quarterly surprise and so far each box's value has been more than what I pay for an annual subscription so I'm keeping it for now.  I have two more boxes this year before it renews so I'll re-evaluate at that time.   I wasn't as happy with my box choices this quarter so we'll see if it improves or not.   Also to note, I pay for my subscription myself.  I'm not a fancy schmancy influencer who gets stuff for free, although I'd like to be!  haha.  Just be warned, I'm brutally honest and just because you give it to me a good review it does not guarantee.

Let's check out the Spring 2026 box choices I made.   If I was a good blogger I'd tell you what I had to select from, but I'm not so you just get to see what I selected.  Being an annual subscriber means that I get to choose all my selections before the box gets shipped.    If you are so inclined you can actually go to the Fab Fit Fun website and see all of them.   If you are super jazzed about it, then here's a lovely little discount code that'll get you $20 off your annual subscription.   I probably get something out of the referral but since I've never gotten one, I couldn't tell you.  haha.  I'm a savvy influencer aren't I??   (Please don't hurt yourself laughing at that comment).  

Here's the box after I opened it.  Side note: I love their boxes, I rarely throw them away as they get recycled as gift boxes for the holidays.   They are always so bright and cheerful on the inside.

Up first is Verb leave-in conditioner.    Yet another side note, I'm obligated to tell you that some links will take you to the site with a personal code embedded and allegedly I could receive funds for you clicking on the link and purchasing. I've done this awhile and I've never received a dime so safe to say your girl isn't getting a retirement plan going on this stuff.    I'm always on the lookout for anything that claims it can reduce frizz and is reasonably clean.  Last week I accidentally forgot to condition my hair in the shower so I used this.  As a bonus it also works as a detangler and I would say that I didn't notice my hair being any drier than if I had used conditioner so I'd give this one a thumbs up.  Would I use it every time I shampoo, probably not but it's nice to have in case you forget to condition, run out of conditioner or are just in a general hurry on hair washing day.   Other times, THIS is my preferred detangler.  It's clean and it smells divine.   It's made for children so it works so well on my hair and it's quite affordable.  I also find it at Target when I'm trying to ween myself from Amazon. 

Next up is Living Proof Perfect Hair Day shampoo and conditioner.  I have not tried these yet as I still have plenty of shampoo and conditioner in my shower.  It's currently sitting in my back stock bin in the bathroom cabinet.  Listen, I wash my hair 2 maybe 3 times a week (in the summer) so shampoo and conditioner lasts me a long time.  I will tell you that I really like the smell, it has a very light fresh clean scent.  Also, if you don't know what a backstock bin is then I highly suggest you watch the lovely ladies from Home Edit.  They are my organization heroes.

Ya'll, I don't buy candles very often.  You know, toxic things and all that they be having BUT this one is sooo nice.  The brand is Siblings and this scent is Soli Neroli.  I'm going to pop this link to this candle on their site.  First let me tell you that the holder is a nice beautiful ceramic pot and it will end up getting used as a planter OR as I've just discovered, they sell refills!  How cool is that?!   I was able to remove the label with my trusty Young Living Lemon oil.  (Side note; yes I still purchase Young Living and I still love everything they sell.  I don't really "sell it" but if you are interested in Young living I would love to chat your ears off!).  Let's get back to the candle and this is the scent profile from the website: 

Top: Bergamot, Mandarin

Heart: Neroli, Lavender, Jasmine Petals
Base: Cedarwood, Clary Sage

It smells so good, not overpowering, just light and clean.  This is not the scent I would have selected but I would probably refill in this smell because it's that good.  As far as candles go, this one seems to be decently clean and free from ridiculous toxins. 

Next up is Salt & Stone body lotion, it came in the Santal & 

Vetiver scent.   The Salt & Stone products have become kind of viral and people often rave about them, especially the deodorant but I honestly have never felt the need to try them.  Since it was one of my choices and since I live on the fact of one never has enough body lotion because apparently I'm part lizard, I decided to try this.  I appreciate that the ingredients are decently clean and it's vegan (I'm a vegan lover in my products not my dinners) but ya'll this stuff is strong!   I mean like you aren't wearing any other scent that day if you put this on.  It's a bit grassy, a bit fresh, a bit floral but honestly it's a little much for an everyday lotion for me.  I will say that it goes on very well, is lightweight, not greasy and absorbs quickly so those are all big bonuses.  Is it super hydrating, probably not any more than other body lotions I've used but then again, we've established that I might be part lizard. 

  The box also contained a little bonus trial of Mrs Meyers dog shampoo in the white peach scent.  Now, who decided white peach was a good scent for a dog?  I don't know but I appreciate that they tried to branch out of the usual chamomile or lavender scents.  We have yet to use it because we also use the Young Living animal scent shampoo and we love it.  Actually the Hubster gets a little huffy when we run out, it's his favorite dog bathing shampoo. 

Next up is this cute Olive & Piper vale ring.  Let me get you a better pic.

The center stone is a light, neutral olive green and there is a pale pink and pale lavender stone in addition to the clear stones.  This little ring is quite adorable and will pair with so many pieces.    A nice fun piece that I wouldn't have bought for myself but have already worn it because it's so dainty and versatile. 

And finally the last piece, a sweet little bag from Few Moda.   The Theia bag is made from Vegan leather and can be worn as a crossbody, with the removable long strap, or carried as a clutch.   Occasionally, I have a need for a small clutch bag and most of mine are black, bold color (specifically purchased to match a dress) or gold.  The gold one belonged to my mother and I've had it for years but I found myself wishing for a lighter bag for the spring and summer events.   It has a magnetic closure but also this fun closure that adds some interest in whimsy to the bag. 

It's not something I'd carry on a daily basis but if you have an event where you'll need your phone, a card and some lipstick, it's perfect.   

Let's take one final look at everything in the box because while I wasn't over the moon with what I got this time ( I mean the Winter box had a pair of the SOFTEST pajamas ever) I do think it's a good value and it's a fun treat every quarter.  

That's all for today, I'm off to do some more yard work and figure out what's for dinner. 

I have posts coming up with Hello Fresh meals (we're trying that out again) and a fun Mardi Gras parade one.

Stay class and stay sassy but always be kind!

Samma