Mushroomland Dolls Review

Fairytales come alive with Mushroomland Dolls. Mushroomland sells cute dolls and characters from the stories by Natasha Guruleva. Natasha writes and illustrates fairy-tales and fables where many characters are mushrooms. Together with their human friend, they explore different realms of nature – Flower Kingdom, Butterfly Empire, Underground Maze, Big Pond and so on. For the illustrations she uses photography placing the characters that she makes herself into the natural environment– in the forest, ponds and meadows of Long Island. The basic thread of her stories holds together beads-ideas about recognizing and appreciating life around us, life under our feet, treating everybody as equal and seeing ourselves as a part of the unity.

She also single-handedly created a feature film, based on her first story “Adventures of Little Herbert in Mushroom Land.” It’s made in an old-fashioned style of stop-frame animation. She built over 50 characters out of fabrics and wires and designed the sets in the woods (Forest Town, Mushroom House). She photographed every movement of those characters, then “photoshopped” each frame to get rid of supporting wires and make the mouths move. She also edited (digitally) the entire movie. Now it’s airing at the various local TV networks as a series of episodes, and the next animated adventure “On the Wings of Butterflies” is in a process of creation. She not only wanted to write the fairytales she wanted to bring them to life through her dolls. The dolls are unique. They are kind of like stuffed animals, I love that they are characters and go on adventures in the fairytales, now you can take those same characters on new adventures wherever you go.

I like the way mushrooms look and I used to collect mushroom items. So, when I had the opportunity to review a Mushroomland Doll I was really excited. We received the Russell character. I thought it was really cute. Russell is a fun and magical guy. The Mushroomland dolls are homemade and I think that gives them all extra character and no Mushroomland doll is exactly the same. You can tell that a lot of love went in them. The company is really nice as well. Natasha’s nephew decided that Noah would like a bigger one, so we received a larger size of the Russell doll. I thought it was really sweet and warmed my heart. Mushroomland dolls would have been great for my Grandma Diana, because she collected and made dolls. I thought when I opened the box that it looked like something she would make. So, Mushroomland Dolls are great for anyone not just children.

For more information please visit Mushroomland’s website HERE

Thank you to Mushroomland for sending me a Russell Doll to try out.

Let's talk about Sexual Harassment.

I want to talk to you about sexual harassment and how it not acceptable in any situation. It can happen to anyone anywhere. I thought I would share my story where I was sexually harassed by a car salesman. I was out with my old best friend one day like any other day, on this day we decided to go look at cars because she wanted to get a new one. I can’t remember the reason why now. We walked in to the local Acura car dealership and was greeted by a man named Bob. He was older and was in his late sixties. We found a car that she liked and we decided to take it out for a test drive. No big deal right? My old best friend ended up falling in love with the car and buying it.

Shortly after, I am talking a couple days after the phone calls started from Bob. The first call was about how she liked the car which we thought was normal. Then he would call everyday and he kept talking about taking us out to lunch. We didn’t think anything of it. We thought he was just trying to be nice after he obviously got a hefty commission from her new car. He would say things like I wanna take you girls out and show you a good time. We grew up in a very safe community together; the worst thing that had happened that we knew of was a triple murder when we were in sixth grade and at that time nothing like that had happened again. I guess we were naive and sheltered safe behind the city limits of where we grew up.

My old best friend decided she wanted to get a spoiler on her car. At the time she had started to develop really bad migraines. We went to the local Acura dealership again to get the spoiler put on and there was Bob. We tried to avoid him since he had been harassing us calling us on a frequent basis. I was living with her at the time so I knew when and how often he would call. The calls got weirder and weirder and it got to the point that the calls were sent to voicemail. I can still hear his creepy voice in my head almost 5 years later.

Well, he ended up being in the service area when we arrived. We were polite to him of course. He asked us how we were doing. I said I was fine or good or something along those lines. My old best friend mentioned her migraines to him because they were really bad. He responded by telling his about his problems with his male part in detail like we were his doctor or a good friend. It was and still is disturbing.

I really don’t want to know about some strangers penile problems. The other people that worked at Acura that overheard it didn’t say anything like that is inappropriate. Normal people don’t sit there and talk about their privates with a complete stranger or a customer. The calls continued until we got in to the car accident and the car was totaled. Every time I see the Acura dealership I think of Bob and get the chills. I wonder how many others are victims of Bob’s Sexual Harassment and obsessive phone calls.

Sexual harassment is not acceptable at all. You have the right to be out in public without someone making lewd comments or gestures at you. Some people think they have the right to say or do whatever they want without thinking about how it will affect others. Have you ever been a victim? We need to make a stand and use our voices and speak out against Sexual Harassment.

Skinny Cow Review

I love ice cream, but I don’t love all the fat it can have. If only there was great line of ice cream products that were good for you but didn’t taste like it. Luckily for me, there is. It is called Skinny Cow. Skinny Cow is delicious ice cream treats that are not only delicious but good for you too. All of the Skinny Cow products are between 100 to 150 calories which is significantly less than non Skinny Cow products. All of the Skinny Cow treats are trans fat free!

The Skinny Cow Website is full of fun ideas how to lose weight and live a Skinny lifestyle. I can’t forget to mention how cool Skinny is. Skinny is the mascot of Skinny Cow, she is a lipstick wearing fun and flirty cow who loves to wear green eye shadow and lose weight. I had the opportunity to try the Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches, Chocolate with Fudge Ice Cream Cones and the Chocolate Truffle bars.



The Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches were the best mint ice cream sandwiches I have ever had. I used to buy the store brand because I love mint and that was the only kind I could find before. They were good but they were full of fat and calories. I had to enjoy them in strict moderation. Skinny Cow Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches on the other hand are better. They are so full of mint flavor and the chocolate cookies are the perfect mixture of softness and chocolate. The chocolate cookies hold up well and don’t make a huge mess like some ice cream sandwiches can. They are only 140 calories too!



The Chocolate with Fudge Ice Cream cones were mostly eaten by my son Noah. You know how kids are with their cones. I managed to try a couple after he was in bed. I am not a huge cone person but these were good. Noah thought so too. I liked how they weren’t a huge mess when he was done. We spent our afternoons eating icy creamy ice cream as he would call it. He loves ice cream. Not that he understands calories or fat but I knew I was giving him something that was better for him than some of those other ice cream treats that are in shapes of cartoon characters that have way more than 100 calories like these do.



Last but not least the Chocolate Truffle Bars. These were so rich and creamy and tasted like I was eating a box of frozen truffles. I shared a couple with my mom who loves to eat truffles and chocolate and she loved them as well. They are such a classy ice cream treat. Move over Bon-Bons there is a new decadent ice cream treat in town. Chocolate Truffle Bars are only 100 calories too.

Noah and I enjoyed eating the ice cream treats we picked out at the store. They went fast. Noah’s favorite was the Chocolate with Fudge Ice Cream cones. I specifically picked those out for him because I thought he would enjoy them. I also liked them. My favorite if I had to pick one was the Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches. I have always enjoyed ice cream sandwiches for as long as I can remember and you all know I am a mint girl. Both of the other treats were a stiff competition though. They were all so creamy and if I hadn’t picked them out, I wouldn’t have any idea that they are actually good for you. Honestly some of those other healthy ice cream and ice cream treats are not very good. Skinny Cow was a hit in our house.

The people at Skinny Cow wanted me to share a photo with you all. This would be a great idea for an alternate dessert at a baby shower. It was created by someone at the Skinny Cow office and it looks so good. I love the colors and the presentation is just gorgeous. It would definitely impress the party guests and please the mother to be.




Look for Skinny Cow Products in your Grocery store freezer section. Check out the Flavor Finder to find products at stores near you HERE. You can also download a form to request other flavors from your store's manager.

For more information on Skinny Cow and to read some of Skinny’s humorous Skinnyisms and to send your friends Skinny Cards to help spread the love for Skinny Cow Please visit the Skinny Cow Website.

Thank you to Skinny Cow for providing me with some coupons to try out a few Skinny Cow Products for my review.