This post contains affiliate links.

We are not decaf drinkers here.
In fact, the last time I bought decaf coffee was years ago. And it wasn't for me. We had company over and we were trying to be considerate. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure decaf is super. But, can someone explain the goodness to me? I mean, sure. Coffee is coffee. And with enough cream and sugar, I suppose I could drink anything. (I don't really mean that!) But really.



Then, along came Five Cups Coffee.  It came to me in a magical Amazon Prime box. In case you don't know, "I offer free shipping" is a great pick-up line.


My thoughts were something like this: Um, it's decaf. But it's apparently special. I mean, it says so on the package, "The World Finest Coffee". (That's a direct quote.)

   
A roasting date of September-something was written on the back of the package, as well as some good coffee making directions. I didn't get a picture of that - oops.


Inside, whole beans! But we had no fear, the Magic Bullet was here. In a matter of seconds, we were ready to brew.

Y'all, this stuff is good. Mr. Incredible and I have had several cups over the last week. It's a really smooth cup of coffee, with a good taste. That's probably what stood out the most.

Why is this coffee different?
That's generally my first question. According to the packaging and their website, they use a gentle and chemical free decaffeination process called "Swiss Water". I had never heard of it before, but that's no biggie.

The great thing about this process? Apparently, you can drink more than 5 cups a day with no health risks. That's what they brag. Oh, and it's organic. So, yay for that! Oh, and it comes with a money back guarantee if you're not loving it. But, in all honesty, Mr. Incredible and I are actually loving it.

It's right here on Amazon, or you can go straight to their website! I'll link it here. I had the chance to buy this coffee at a discounted price, and jumped at it! But it did not come with any obligation to blog or comment about it, I did not have to name my firstborn after this coffee, I did not have to get a tattoo, and this is an affiliate post. This is just me telling you what's in my coffee cup! These are my actual thoughts and opinions!

I'll close with a half candid selfie of Mr. Incredible and myself feeding our coffee addiction on the way to church. And that's it! Go check out Five Cups Coffee. Don't forget to check us out at Caffeinated Melly on FB!


In the meantime, what's in your coffee cup? 
Is there an awesome coffee out there that we need to try?
Leave us a comment below! 

This post contains affiliate links.


"Oh, I'm a Gummy Bear. Yes, I'm a Gummy Bear. Oh, I'm a yummy, tummy, funny lookin' gummy bear! Oh yeah." 


That is the heart of was is playing in my house right now!


Who doesn't love Gummy Bears? Whether it's the candy, the song, or the TV show from my childhood, there is nothing but love - at least that's the case in my house!

There was a knock on our door Thursday; but as soon as I answered it all that was waiting on me was a box. But not just any box. A magical box with the words Amazon Prime written on it. Inside, was this silicone bear mold! Perfect for ice, chocolate, or those yummy little gummies!


Pirate did a spectacular un-boxing video. I'll link it here as soon as I get it posted. In the heart of full disclosure: it may not be today! 
I'll try. #momlife

How cute are these? I got them from a seller named Alpha & Sigma. I actually received them at a discounted price*, but knowing now how much we enjoyed this product, I feel the price tag is worth it! 

Every so often, Mr. Incredible has to work on a Saturday and we end up home bound. I wanted to make sure we had a fun day, so it was the perfect day to play in the kitchen.

Once we got Tootsie Roll down for her afternoon nap, and one trusty google search later, we landed at Skip To My Lou where she had this amazingly easy recipe for Gummy Candy. 

You guys! 
We followed it to a tee. It was perfection. 

I'm thinking it took us under twenty minutes to get to the point where we were filling our bear molds. I feel like we made really good time, considering in that time we ended up rescuing Tootsie Roll from her nap time (she wasn't feeling it yet!), and played some soccer. 

Truth be told, there's some potential for 'messy'. And by "some", I mean a lot of potential for messy. But where there's a mess, there are things like memories and love. 



Then we stuck it in the fridge for the shortest 20 minutes known to man. Really, it was closer to 15. We couldn't wait! The little bears popped out of the silicone so, so easily! And they left absolutely no residue behind.

Look at that little guy! Pirate was beside herself in love with this activity. She packaged some up for her grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousin; she ate a handful of them, and we called this a WIN for today! I couldn't have been more pleased with how this all came out!
THEY. TASTED. SO. GOOD.
All the sweetness and chewy texture was there. They were a little sticky, but that was fine. It didn't take away from these little bears' awesomeness at all.

A few details before I forget: 
We were able to full about 70 of the 100 empty little bear spots.
When the mixture cools, it firms up. We stuck it in the microwave for about 15 seconds to reheat and soften it. We had no issue with it.

And, that's it!

What did you think? Leave us a comment, what's your favorite candy? Have you ever made gummies with a mold? What should we try next?

As always, come back for more! Like us at Caffeinated Melly on Facebook so you don't miss anything! 


* I received this at a discounted price, but nothing was required of me in return. I do not owe this company a review, a blog post, my firstborn child, or anything else. I am happy to review this product for the fun of it, my opinions are always my own. 

It's been a while since we had a Family Fridays post!
I can't even imagine how that happened, but we're back! And I can't wait to tell you what Pirate and I just did! 

But first!
If you follow us on Facebook, (and you totally should!), you may have seen me post this. Well, here is the much awaited answer.

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you may know how important quality time is to us, and especially to our six year old, Pirate. 


Pirate's days are long. They start before "bright and early", since it's still dark at 5am. By the time she gets off of the school bus, we get about three good hours with her a day, four if we're lucky. After the 7 o'clock hour rolls around, all bets are off. Exhaustion takes over. Monsters come out. 


All that to say, family time has to be found and seized!


One year old Tootsie Roll was already down for a nap when Pirate got off of the bus. It was too cold to play outside, 
I took one of her favorite things and brought it indoors.

I grabbed some wooden skewers, a bag of marshmallows, a lighter, of course my coffee, and some rocks for a pretend outdoorsy feel. 



We were ready! It was time to roast some marshmallows!


You guys! 
Tons. Of. Fun.

It was some of the most fun we've had in a while! I saw real smiles and laughs out of my child that exhaustion usually keeps hidden. 

Pirate discovered that she kinda likes burnt marshmallows -- my personal favorite. She squealed when the marshmallow caught fire and had to blow it out. When we ran out of marshmallows, she got a refill from the cabinet. And yum! I mean, who doesn't love sugar?! We do!
Here are some more pics of our fun! 


I'd love to add how cheap this activity was. I'll go out on a limb and say that we spent less than $5 total. And, best of all, it was a good hour of time spent laughing, roasting marshmallows and investing in our mommy-daughter relationship. 

Leave us a comment, what do you do to survive being stuck indoors? Do you like roasting marshmallows? Anything activities you'd like to see us try?


As always, don't forget to like us on Facebook & follow us on Twitter

--
Note: Please, always take proper safety precautions and more than common sense when using candles, lighters, fire, anything hot, anything dangerous, or anything I haven't thought of! Everything in this story took place under responsible, alert, and sober adult supervision. Seriously, make smart decisions. Future you will thank you!



Today, we are outside soaking up the vitamin D that is pouring down on us from the sun. It is so beautiful out today. There's a nasty rumor going around that predicts that winter is coming back this weekend. I hope it's a lie. I hope it stays like this forever.


It's not that I don't like winter.

No, that's a lie.

I just don't like winter.

I like just enough snow for the girls to enjoy for a few days, then I'm over it! I'm a sunshiny, palm tree lovin', key lime pie eatin', Cuban coffee drinkin', wake me up when it's spring kind of girl! I struggle with winter. It happens. It's cold. I feel smothered inside. I feel like the whole world hit 'pause'. Not even the ants come around anymore. 

And, on February 2nd, I find myself using ridiculous hashtags like #notmygroundhog. 

One of the consistent things about life is that we have to sometimes deal with things we're not crazy about. I combat the winter blues with a touch of Florida. A few years ago, that meant watching Burn Notice, eating Key Lime Pie, and drinking Cafe Bustelo!
Currently, we're in love with this little orange juicer that Mr. Incredible found at the thrift store for .75! I think we saw the same one at Wal-mart for under five dollars, so they're not hard to come by! I just have to share it with you. 

It took a few oranges to get a good cup out of it, 
but it was the sweetest and freshest glass of OJ I had had in so long! 

If orange juice tasted this good out of the container, I'd drink more of it. You do have to put a little bit of muscle into it, but the juice was worth the squeeze! 

Leave a comment below, we'd love to hear from you? What's your winter like? Do you love it or live with it, or do you not have one?

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This post contains affiliate links.

CLICK HERE to see Moon Pie Coffee on Amazon!
As the name of this blog implies, I love coffee. In fact, my entire family loves coffee. It's a main food group. It's a sickness. I might as well be a Gilmore Girl. Mama needs the morning cup of life. 

We were walking through the grocery store the other day when something amazing jumped right off the shelf and into my cart! Of course, it was COFFEE! 

I looked down at the package:


I had no other choice than to buy it. It seemed that I was put in this very grocery store for such a time as this! 

Let me start by saying that the state while I was raised in is, geographically speaking, a southern state. I was not raised in The South. Apparently, there is a difference that even google recognizes on its first page! 

My point? I did not grow up with Moon Pies! Mr. Incredible and Pirate on the other hand, having been born and raised here in the South have the experience that I lack. We had to try it! 

As soon as we got home, Pirate got to open it up!

I just want to say that I love the resealable aspect of their bag!



You guys! Yum. 
I didn't know what to expect. We added some creamer and drank it up. I am not a food connoisseur, by any means. Most of my food opinions are on a quick pass/fail basis. This passed with yummy flying colors. Mr. Incredible said it was chocolaty and reminiscent of the real thing. He brought a Moon Pie home for me to try the next day

Here is Pirate's reaction:


I hope you enjoyed this post! We just wanted to share some caffeinated happiness with y'all.

What is your favorite coffee? Is there something awesome out there that we should try next? Leave us a comment, and let us know!
As always, thanks for stopping by!! Find us on FB and follow us here! 

This post contains affiliate links. 



We had gorgeous weather!
Sunny. Warm. Awesome.
Spring had sprung. I knew it had, it said so all over my Facebook feed. But it didn't stay epic for long. Rain and cold air came back this week! Since then, I've had a song stuck in my head that I remember from when I was Pirate's age. I may not be able to find it on youtube; but a couple of decades later, I can still hear it oh-so-clearly!


"It's raining outside and we can't go out to play; what do you like to do in the rain?"

So with it being so cold and wet outside, we opted to stay indoors. We kept ourselves warm and dry by drinking coffee, and coloring! That's right, I said coloring! It seems to be all the rage now. Grown-ups relaxing with their old childhood pastime. In fact, it's such a hit that that coloring book creators have gone wild creating new, grown-up friendly pages in countless themes! But enough of that! The best part of it all was that Pirate and I could do this together. Spending time with this kid is oh-so-important to her little heart and it's oh-so-important to us as a family.

Coloring with Pirate

And if we can spend time together without me having to cross a perilous obstacle course she has designed or hiding under the kitchen sink, I'm all for it!



Because, really. What 32 year old really needs to be under the kitchen sink?!


People get stuck. 

Anyway! We couldn't have picked a better time to be stuck indoors. I was given the opportunity to review an adult coloring book! So we grabbed some pencils, some coffee and the coloring book! Well, technically we printed out some .pdf copies - which, if you're into it, when you buy this coloring book on Amazon, it includes a free .pdf download.  

by: Jade Summer


CLICK HERE to find this on Amazon!


I was really surprised at how much detail there was to this book. It really took some time and effort to color every piece. And if you enjoy coloring, that's a great thing. 

It was nice to just sit and chill
Drink my coffee and color a picture with my girl


Pirate lost interest pretty quickly and flipped her paper over to draw on the blank side, but she is 6 years old. Still, I think it was a win for us! Inexpensive. No back spasms from being stuck under a table. If you're into coloring, be sure to check this out on Amazon. The author has soooooo many more books to choose from! 

Drop us a comment, how do you spend your rainy days? What's your favorite indoor activity with the little ones in your life? 

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