Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all you Mom's have a wonderful Sunday! I am taking my Mom to a chicken BBQ for lunch & then hopefully spending the day relaxing. We'll see. I somehow doubt I'll manage to just "relax" all day!

Garden - One of the Wisteria vines I planted the spring after we bought the house finally bloomed all over! It is amazing to sit on the porch & look at it!!!




The other vine is still a couple weeks behind, I hope I didn't lose it.

Other News:

Press
To help educate people about the importance of digestive health, P&G has partnered with celebrity nutritionist Ashley Koff, R.D. to launch the Align® My Digestive Makeover Contest. Ashley Koff has worked with celebrities like Emily Deschanel, Josie Maran and Elizabeth Hasselbeck to give them makeovers from the inside and help strengthen their digestive health. Consumers have the chance to win a trip to the 2009 People’s Choice Awards and After Party. The grand prize winner will also receive free nutritional counsel and digestive makeover advice from Ashley Koff, R.D., who will be helping the contest winner feel as great as her celebrity clients do – from the inside, out. To enter the Digestive Makeover contest, visit My Digestive Makeover
You can visit Align Daily for more information.

Links

12 Simple Ways to Reimagine a Room

14 Quick Ways to Raise Cash

Lysol Kills Swine Flu or H1N1, good to know!

WFMW Frugal Edition Great collection!!!

Homemade Miracle Whip

Snow Day!

The kids are home. School was canceled due to the forecast of a lot of snow. So I have lost my day to catch up, wrap presents & enjoy some peace & quiet! Hubby will be home from work early, so hopefully I can head up to the sewing room & get a couple of these adorable aprons made. I picked up some fantastic fabric at Wal*mart the other day. It had such a great feel and will make lovely aprons. I also want to put together a few of these slippers.

I do feel bad for the kids though, they were both supposed to have Holiday parties today & I still have their teacher gifts. I guess it'll have to wait until after break now. Of course the elementary kids were supposed to have their sing along today too. They've been working so hard, I hope the school lets them hold it when they go back.

The kids were up early, and I woke up to the 5:55 school phone call, yikes, but we're still moving pretty slow.

I just sat down at my desk to get it cleaned off. It amazes me how quickly papers pile up here. We are supposed to have dentist appointments today but I had to reschedule. It's really coming down now.

After I finish with my desk I am moving on the the kitchen. I really need to clear off my shelf. Hubby uses it to empty his pockets, so there's a ton of stuff up there!

Happy snowy Friday!!!





Stumble It!

We survived!

2 Turkey dinners, 2 birthdays, 1 anniversary & one major cold for me! Thankfully I was able to spend most of yesterday resting.

We did go out Black Friday. Just to Walmart & JCPenny. We had to get our snow globe, I have a collection now! Afterwards we went to my sisters for some gift wrapping. It wasn't all about the deals, more about tradition, we have fun and I did get a lot of shopping done!

I guess it was successful for retailers, but I didn't see it. This year it wasn't nearly as crazy as I've seen it in the past. Maybe they were just buying more expensive items (TVs were big, as were bikes). We went for the fun & some of the small things movies, wii games, MP3 players, PJs.

Anybody taking advantage of cyber Monday? I don't think there are any that I can't avoid! Besides, I am tapped until payday! No more money for gifts until Wednesday, LOL!





Stumble It!

My Favorite Holiday CDs

I should say downloads, they way things are going these days...

10. A Santa Clause: A Punk Rock Christmas Various Artists like Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Punk and Christmas, makes for an interesting listen!

9. Taste of Christmas - Various
~With Amped singing "We Three Kings," and titles like "Christmas Evil," "Homeless for Christmas" I'm not sure I'd run it on loop play!

8. A Classic Rock Christmas and A Southern Rock Christmas are tied here, couldn't decide which one I like better!
How do you decide between Run Run Rudolph - by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tommy Shaw's 12 Days of Christmas? Well, maybe someone could but it isn't me!

7. Beyond the Season - Garth Brooks
~Santa Looked a lot like Daddy... So if Santa Claus ain't daddy
Well then I'm gonna tell on them... LOVE IT!!!

6. Twisted Christmas - Twisted Sister
Rock on!!!

5. Looking for Christmas - Clint Black
~The Finest Gift is still a tear jerker for me. It's just a nice family friendly CD.

4. Now That's What I Call Christmas! - Various Artists 2 disk set.
~Includes Springsteen's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," it's just a great collection of classics!

3. Monster Ballads Christmas - Various Artists
~ Can I just say Tom Keifer singing Blue Christmas, WOW!

My most favorite Holiday (Christmas for me sorry) CDs are from Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I don't think we'll get to see them this year because we're going to the Rockette's but hopefully next year!

2. The Lost Christmas Eve - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
~ Wizards in Winter was amazing live! It's not my favorite Trans-Siberian song overall, but we saw it twice live last year, it's a thing of wonder!

1. Christmas Eve and Other Stories - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
~Christmas/ Sarajevo 12/24 is probably my most favorite Trans-Siberian song!

Check out another random blogger Thoughts from the Outside

Holiday Planning

What's on your Holiday Calendar

I am taking off many shopping trips! Thanks to my sister the largest chunk of my shopping is DONE!!! We were buying one big family gift this year & it quiet possibly could have taken multiple trips to different places to have found it, so whew!

I have also accumulated a large number of the "other" stuff. Stocking stuffers, small gifts (thank you obnoxious fund raisers), and everything else I need is either undecided (translate = we draw names so I have no idea who I'm giving things too yet) or planned for future trips. So we'll go Black Friday, just because it puts us in the mood, and I'll take the kids once, but I'm hoping to avoid making any SPECIAL trips!

As far as actual dates my calendar is filling up quickly. It's been like that for a week already! This week was wedding, cleaning, work, cooking, work, meeting, cleaning, award banquet for football, work, turkey party, youth group meeting, opening day of hunting, cleaning & cooking LOL!

Next week looks just as busy, with some different evening activities (including Pastor coming over for a visit). But mostly just getting things in order here for our 2 Thanksgiving dinners. I'm going to have my kids friends over for their birthdays, thats 2 more days filled! Simple stuff though cake, play, treats. They wanted big parties, but we are going to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular instead. We're doing that Sunday, so I'll let you know how it goes!!! My Mom & I are taking the kids, hubby will hopefully be out shooting a deer. Our freezer is looking a little bare, LOL!

I do need to schedule some creative time, I'd like to make some gifts for my exchanges. I have several UFOs that were intended to be gifts, all I have to do is finish them!!!








Stumble It!

Our Halloween

These are the pumpkins! We used little LED tea lights to keep them lit all night!






The Prince had to have this costume, thankfully Granny found it!













Momma made the tutu & under skirt. She wore it like this for treating, to school she wore a velvety red shirt it matched the color better!



We had a fun evening of treating around town. It was very nice to be out in the light! We hit a majority of houses downtown & then had to drive to the rural relatives! We were home by 8:00!

Stumble It!

Some Neat Gift Ideas - You Make Yourself

Affordable Wall Art

Country Soap and Lotion Dispensers

Homemade Bookmarks

Easy to make Hat Organizer

Kids Apron, Chef hat & baking tray

For Girls (but not small ones!) - Button Rings

Almost no sew Tutu

Sweater Mittens New gift, recycled material!

Crochet Dishcloths Who wouldn't love a bundle of colorful dishcloths!

Lots of "free" CDroms lying around??? Check out Make Stuff










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Find $1000 by the Holidays

Again Kiplinger has sent me another great read I just had to share with you all!!!

“Find $1,000 by the Holidays” gives 6 simple ideas to trim some minor expenses and wind up with up with an extra $1,000 in your savings count.


The tips include:



1. Adjust your tax withholding.

2. Take fewer trips to the grocery store. Making bigger shopping trips less often will cut down on your impulse buys.

3. Kick a habit. Little routines can add up to big bucks.

4. Eat out one less time per month.

5. Put on a sweater. dropping your thermostat just two degrees and donning a sweater will save you $30 a month

6. Examine your phone and cable use. Do you really need all those cable channels?





Stumble It!

From My Google Reader...

Homemaker Barbi has put together an amazing Get Ready for Winter checklist. Seems redundant to do one of my own!!! I'm just going to go over hers & see what I need to Tackle for tomorrows Tackle it Tuesday!!!

This week I will be doing:


1. Pack away summer clothes.

2. Box up summer shoes and sandals.

3. Unpack winter outer wear. We already had to get out the box of hats & gloves for last weeks football game, brrrr!

4. Unpack and wash winter inner wear, such as wool socks, flannel pajamas, sweaters, and robes.

5. Donate adults’ and kids’ old coats, snow pants and boots that are too small to a local shelter or Goodwill. - We will have a coat collection at the Prince's school. I'll just be ready early!

6. Switch to heavyweight pajamas.

I am also ready for my CLR Tackle Now I just need to decide what to clean first!

For the Kids! 2 Fall Leaf Projects for kids.


Don't forget to enter my giveaway You have until October 24th 9PM!






Stumble It!

Black Halloween Punch

Black Halloween Punch

1 envelope (0.13 ounce) unsweetened grape Kool-Aid
1 envelope (0.13 ounce) unsweetened orange Kool-Aid
2 cups white sugar
3 quarts cold water
1 liter ginger ale
Molded ice hand, optional

Stir together Kool-Aid mixes, sugar and water until dissolved. Combine
with chilled ginger ale just before serving. If you'd like, float the
ice hand in the punch bowl for a ghastly effect. (To make, wash a
disposable glove, fill with water, seal with a rubber band and freeze.)

allrecipes com

Halloween to Thanksgiving Ideas

Fall is here! Time to start thinking about Halloween & Thanksgiving, for me that also includes 2 weddings, several anniversaries & birthdays, hunting season and more FOOTBALL!!!

So when I open my email & find a bunch of great tips sitting there just waiting to be passed along I just have to share!


~The start of the upcoming holiday season is upon us with Halloween right around the corner! Between family dinners, parties, costumes, and more, things can really add up! With Americans looking to save money anywhere we can these days- we've got some budget saving decorating ideas (and kid-friendly crafts) that will transition you from Halloween through Thanksgiving. Lisa Kothari, a nationally known party planner, offers up some fabulous ideas for your readers. Below are just some of her ideas; please let me know if you・d like more. Thanks!



Cookie Cutters: The simple pumpkin cookie cutter you chose to create marvelous pumpkin invitations and decorations for your spooky Halloween party can be used at Thanksgiving time to make pumpkin sugar cookies, pumpkin bread, brownies, etc. Pumpkins are as festive at Halloween as they are at Thanksgiving.



Tablecloth: Use an orange tablecloth for your Halloween party table, and then trim it up using brown ribbon and scalloped scissors to create a formal tablecloth for Thanksgiving.



The bales of hay and Indian corn you purchased to make your yard, front porch, door, and even serve as a table centerpiece can all be used during Thanksgiving as well. The items will keep fresh throughout the entire autumn season. You can also use the corn husks to create dolls and puppets for more Thanksgiving decorations or plain fun!



Mini pumpkins and gourds look as festive for Halloween as they will for Thanksgiving. Have the kids draw faces on the small pumpkins, and turkeys on to the gourds.



Any leftover orange balloons can be blown up for Thanksgiving and the kids can either draw with brown magic markers or use other craft materials to create turkey balloons.



Have the kids roll up large orange napkins that you may have used for your Halloween party and create napkin rings using white and black construction paper rings (the Pilgrim colors, of course!)



Did you bob for apples at your Halloween party? Use these apples or some new ones to create Apple Candlestick Holders. Core out the center of the apple to fit a candle snuggly. Older children can carve out patterns on the skin of the apple, or just keep them plain red.



About Lisa Kothari: Kothari is the president and founder of Peppers and Pollywogs, a web-based company that is ・All About Kids・ Parties.・ During the past ten years, Lisa has organized hundreds of creative and unique kids・ parties in Washington, DC, New York City, and Seattle. She believes that no matter the budget or the amount of time a parent has, a great kids・ party can always be planned. Her passion is helping parents achieve this with minimal time and effort. Kothari recently released her book, Dear Peppers and Pollywogs・What Parents Want to Know About Planning Their Kids・ Parties, a must-have manual for all parents. Be sure and visit Peppers and Pollywogs for party tips, advice, and current theme trends.






Stumble It!

Happy Holidays!

Just a quick note to say...


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We are at my Moms Monday night & we are hosting hubby's family Tuesday for dinner. The cookies are made, I'll share pics once I get them up! Of course we only had green food color, forgot it was on my list, oops. NEVER shop without the list!!! hehehe!

Christmas is for Movies...

I have to admit I have attended a movie on Christmas. What else are you supposed to do when you are a teenager, the presents are opened & you want to spend some time with your significant other. I just wish I could remember the movie we went to see... ah young minds are a terrible thing to waste!

If only, now it is filled with family, fun, kids & cleaning. Then collapsing on the couch out of sheer exhaustion, admiring the tree in all it's used up glory!

This new Tim Burton, Johnny Depp movie "Sweeny Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" promises to be a worth while movie experience. As is any movie with Johnny Depp ( I am a fan, because even Cry Baby was fine by me!!!). Johnny sings, how cool is that! The movie opens on - Christmas! Maybe the kids will get a sleepover & we'll have a child free evening for a little grown up fun, DOUBTFUL!

If you visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site or visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace and you are led to make your own confession. Video, write or call in you most hideous of crimes, deepest shames and share them with the world! I'm sure I'd have to sit & think of something worthy of confessing, not that I'm the picture of perfection & all, just wouldn't want to be lame!!! After all I do score on the HIGH end of those "bad" personality quizzes that go around!!!

Tackle it Tuesday

So as usual I am a day late! In my defense I was too busy tackling to post about it! I spent most of yesterday making my Thanksgiving dishes.

I made 5 loaves of Pineapple Sweet Potato Bread.

And 2 Sweet Potato Pineapple Bake casseroles. No pics yet I only followed through the first bake, marshmallows will go on Thursday.

I also need to get outside & snap a pic of our Christmas decor, they have been up for 2 weeks now. We just haven't plugged them in, that we'll do Friday!

It hasn't hurt that we've had unseasonable weather here, gotta take advantage of the extra outside time!

Frugal Friday

I really don't have much to say today!!! Shock & awe I know!

I think all I've got is to check your whole sale food service companies for baking supplies, especially if you plan on baking tons like I am. I was able to buy my brown sugar for $0.48/pound, flour for $1.60/5 pounds, and margarine for $0.53/pound. Most places don't have minimums if you are picking it up. I also picked up some really cool "egg wash" spray for breads, very nice & easy to use, plus no wasted left over egg. My Grandma used to buy powdered egg whites like this too. Beats making meringue from scratch! Industry secrets! Plus it is an ingredient in most royal icing recipes (for the super cute decorated cutouts!)!!!

29 Ways to a Stress-Free Holiday, HA!

Browsing a 12/17/02 Woman's Day magazine I ran across this article by Catherine Stier! Thought I'd share a bit with ya!!

Relax and enjoy the festivities for a change
1. Make a change - basically take the one thing about the holidays that makes you nuts & do it differently.

2. Be satisfied with "good enough" - this I will never achieve! I am far to OCD to accept good enough, unless I have gone over the top to do everything in my power to make it great!

3. Throw away the shopping list - Not sure how that would work for me! Your supposed to replace gifts with time, I already don't have enough of that!!!

4. Bring out books to add seasonal touches - Sure, I'll have a basket of kids holiday books out after Thanksgiving is over!

5. Use what's on hand - the article suggests gift wrapping photo frames that are already on your walls. I have done it before, but clean up was a pain!!!

6. Go monochrome - I switched all our stuff to red a while back, I'll probably stick with it, since I really don't have the funds to run out & change everything, but I am itching for a change!

7. Know when to say NO - When??? What is this no thing???

8. Keep gatherings small - HA! Unless you consider small 25 people or more running around your house forget it! This large family can't do a small anything!

9. Take advantage of time savers - I get it caterer!!! Oh if only! I did cheat a couple years ago & order some holiday cookies, but I had an infant & 0 time, now I have no excuse!

10. Stick with the tried & true - Can't do this either, I view my entire family as Guinea Pigs & must try at least 2 new recipes a year on them!!!

11. Don't hesitate to ask for help - HELP!!!!!

12. Go with a game plan - Ok so if we start outside CVS we can be in & out in an hour hopefully then we can move on to Toys R US, if we don't spend all our $ there, then we can go to Target....

13. Bring only the essentials - leave the 40 pound purse at home, you'll only lose your stuff in it by the end of the day anyways.

14. Seek the out of the way cashier - This only works at the mall! Or if you can check out at the jewelry counter!

15. Leave assembly to the experts - I don't usually have this issue, but I do like to take stuff out of the original boxes, there is nothing worse than spending Christmas morning untwisting twist ties!

16. - Bring along a positive attitude - Smiles are contagious!

17. Request free gift wrapping - I always forget to ask for boxes!

18. Seek out charity gift wrapping services - I think our mall has this set up, but I rarely shop at the mall & I'm certainly not hauling in my stuff from out of the mall...

19. Stock up - I do this after Christmas is over, buy at 75 - 80% off! They are kids & don't care what the wrap looks like!

20. Reward yourself while wrapping - I like to do this with my sis so just hanging out is reward enough! A couple cocktails are nice too!!

21. Hold on to daily rituals - routines!!!

22. Schedule a break - This is usually driving around to see the lights

23. Make one more commitment - if you are into that kind of thing, church choir, charity, something to enhance you spiritually.

24. Pack smart - if you travel at least. Make stuff you'll want when you arrive easy to get too (PJs, toiletries, etc)

25. Stay safe on the road - Emergency kits, AAA, check the car over before leaving...

26. End Airport hassles - get there early, think we all know that by now!

27. Choose travel proof gifts - Gift Cards! Or mail gifts ahead, probably better off with USPS than the airlines... Maybe!

28. Remember to have fun - This is a tough one, because my mind is constantly in a state of "what's next" at least until that day. Then I relax & enjoy!

29. Record what worked - Holiday control journal (Fly Lady)

Pumpkin carving

What not to buy for Mother's Day

Or more appropriately a note to my hubby, let's hope he's reading!

I am pretty sure that there are Mom's out there who would maybe want a new vacuum for Mother's Day, but there are rules... it shouldn't be a cheap $42 number that's gonna give her more head aches than help, right? Right! (nod head now)

Great Gift Ideas For Mom - DirtDevil.com although the boy did expess interest in the "non-powered" Dirt Devil my Grandma has, not having to vacuum as much myself, not a bad gift idea...

Again, there are probably more than a few who would disagree with me on this one too, but I'm not gonna be happy if I wake up to a man inspired beast of a grill, unless it comes with a written contract stating that the giver will be cooking on said beasty 4 out of 7 nights a week...
11% off The Grill and Cooler Combo

How about some flowers - Shop Mother’s Day Flowers from $23 at Walmart.com, but you know I'd prefer plants, even indoor ones would be great!

or maybe something from Overstock - Find something Mom wants only at Overstock.com

I'd LOVE a MP3 Player - Only at Walmart.com: mobiBLU 1 GB Cube Digital Audio Player, $129.72

or how about some new porch furniture, because you know how much I love the white wicker stuff that's out there now...
Wal-Mart: Three-piece patio sets from $89.86

Valentine's Day Swap

These are the yummy goodies I just got in the mail from the Valentine's Day Swap!!! Thank you & happy Valentine's Day!

Frugal Valentine's Day Tips

Just checking my email & found the link to 10 Frugal Ways to Express Love.

Just a note to spouses...sign the love notes! I used to send them to hubby & not sign my name you know your sweetheart (or whatever fit the card) & stuff them in his briefcase... Was great until his boss found one & thought he was having an affair. Eeek. Worse he thought it was someone at the office. Guess he didn't think a wife would do that...