Monday Must-Haves

Welcome to another edition of Monday Must-Haves, a place for me to share with you those things I can't live without.  The products or ideas that make my life easier and happier.  Shall we begin?

1)  Little Green Clean Machine (aka: Lifesaver) - 

My parents bought one of these months ago and we borrowed their brand-new one when some mysterious black spots showed up in the carpet in various places.  We still had it when one of the dogs threw up on the carpet and when my parents saw it on special at Costco, we told them we would buy theirs from them because I wasn't sure we would be able to part with it and it's magic powers to clean our carpets so well!  

Prior to the Little Green I was anticipating spending around $100 to have our carpets professionally cleaned due to little spots here and there, but so far I've always been disappointed with the results of the professionals, not to mention it's difficult (especially in winter) to have a day where the kids and I + the dogs are not in the house for an extended period of time.  Enter into my life the Little Green and now my carpet worries are wiped scrubbed and sucked away!

2)  Easy Lemon Cookies -

Oh my word - these have been my downfall this week!  Daddy, who doesn't have a big sweet-tooth and prefers cheesy snacks, asked me to bake a batch after I had only a few left from bunco.  These are just so deliciously soft and chewy I could eat an entire batch if I gave in (not very helpful with my Wake the Bear Challenge)! 

I'm going to be a bad influence and give you the SUPER SIMPLE recipe:

1 (18.25oz) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. lemon extract (or if you're blessed to have a fabulous lemon tree like me, then squeeze juice from 1/2 a lemon - I think this is my secret weapon ingredient)
1/3 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Pour cake mix into a large bowl.  Stir in eggs, oil and lemon extract (or juice) until well blended.  Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners sugar and roll them around until they're lightly covered.  Try NOT to eat the dough (like me), for as my McGee would say, "There's raw egg and you can get sick!"  Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 6-9 minutes in the preheated oven.  The bottoms will be lightly brown and the insides chewy.  My oven seems to bake pretty fast so my "happy" number is to bake them for about 7 minutes, they may seem a little underdone, but the light brown on a few tops assures me they are ready and will indulgently chewy and scrumptious!  Enjoy!

3) An Abundant Supply of Junk Towels/Rags -

Nothing earth shattering or exciting here, but after the week we've had and a large cranberry juice spill last night at dinner, junk towels and rags are a definite Must-Have item in our household.  Forget paper towels for spills (do they even absorb much anyway?) - we just grab a junk towel/rag from under the sink, wipe it right up then toss it into the garage in front of the washing machine (no we don't have a special junk towel/rag hamper).  Easy-peasy-lemon-squeasy!  You can thank a new Disney cartoon "Chuggington" for my new favorite line.  Hmmm..Chuggington might be a future Must-Have now that I think of it...

**The above is strictly my personal opinion and I have NOT been compensated in any manner for items recommended. If you have a product or idea you would like me to review, please send me an email at CABean03@yahoo.com.**