Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day of family, food, and fun.

Living Life One Day at a Time's Giveaway

Living Life One Day at a Time is having a giveaway for a Rockin' Baby Sling. Make sure to enter before Dec. 5.

My New Header

I did it!  I made a custom header.  It took me weeks but it's finally up there.  I love it even though it's not exactly what I wanted but it's better than what was up there before.  

I used a photo of my niece buttercup.  She was blowing dandelions in the photo and I loved the side profile and thought it'd make a great silhouette.  I used the free photo editing program Gimp to create my header.  

I'm still working on the rest of my blog but it's getting there.  I'm hoping to figure out how to do a custom background as well.  

What do you think?

12 Days of Christmas with Thoughts from the Mrs.

Thoughts from the Mrs. is having a 12 days of Christmas giveaway now through Nov. 26. Make sure to enter some great giveaways.

Game Show Mania

The holidays always make me think of games. After dinner and between dessert, my family breaks out the games, much to the annoyance of some of our family members. I'm a game person. I love board games, trivia games, and card games. Actually, any game your going to play, I like. I'm also a bit competitive when it comes to those games.

Game shows are also something I've always enjoyed. When I was in high school, my family would watch Jeopardy and we would keep points for the answers we got correct first. Jeopardy has always been a favorite. I even have Jeopardy on my computer and I make my family play with me. It's been a while but I'm thinking of loading it up and having a family Jeopardy night soon.

What are your favorite game shows? This is a question Parent Bloggers is asking this weekend.
I think I mostly like older game shows. I'm not really into the new shows they have now. Too flashy and trying to be intense and just too much. One of the older shows I like that's in reruns on Game Show Network (love this channel by the way) is Match Game, a fill in the blank and match answers with celebrities show from the 70s.

I could probably list many game shows I've liked over the years but that list would get to be quite long. Let's just say I like game shows and leave it at that. Oh fine, I'll list a few of my favorites.

Family Feud - the old one but what is up with Richard Dawon and the kissing?
The Newlywed Game
The Price is Right
Double Dare - I always wanted to be on this show. It looked fun. The obstacle course was the best part.


Did you like the game show Supermarket Sweep? Well if you did, make sure to head over to Oliebollen between Nov. 28 - Dec. 1. They are having an Arm Chair Holiday Shopping Sweep. Each day, there will be five totally free items on their website. All you have to do is find them, put them in your cart with one other item you will pay for and complete the check out process. The Supermarket Sweep aspect comes in to play though because there is only a limited number of free items and you could loose them if you don't check out fast enough.

So get ready to run through that store, spin that wheel, press your luck, and stay away from those Whammies!

Harvesting Monster Sunflowers

Remember these beautiful, monster sunflowers? A few weeks ago, we harvested them.




A few of the heads we left outside for the birds.



One was used for roasting and snacking on and another was picked and used for bird seed.


(do you see how large that sunflower head is? That's 4 year old Buttercup behind it)

This was a fun growing project. Next spring we will be planting these again.

My New Hydration Vessel - Kor One

Water it's a necessary part of life. I like the taste of water and it's usually what I drink. Its almost always room temperature when I drink it. Occasionally, I'll add some ice but usually only in the summer.

I was one of those people who took plastic water bottles with me everywhere I went. I don't like to be thirsty. Then I noticed that my trash was filled up with a lot of empty water bottles. Yes, I know I could have recycled them but they usually went in the trash. Honesty is the best policy, right? I decided to do something about that and bought a stainless steel water bottle, which I love by the way. It holds up great (I should know I drop it all the time. I've even had to pound out a few dents.)

Just recently though, I received another option to carry my water around. A Kor One Hydration Vessel. This is a very unusual looking water vessel but I like it. It's made with with a new kind of BPA free plastic called Tritan™.



Isn't it great looking? You push a button to open it and the lid stays on so you can't lose it. There's a great place in the lid for you to put kor stones (empowering sayings or anything else you like). Every time you take a drink, there's a reminder to laugh often or to never settle or you can write your own favorite saying.

The spout is a great size and very comfortable against your mouth. I've yet to splash on myself using the Kor One, which I do often with my stainless steel water bottle.



All in all, I've been really happy with my Kor One Hydration Vessel.

My Christmas Wish for This Here Blog

If you haven't noticed lately, my blog design is rather boring. I mean really boring. I've been trying to learn how to make my own header on gimp. It's just taking forever to figure out how to do things. I have a design in mind, finally! That took me a long time to decide what I wanted, now that I do, I just can't do it.

I'll be plugging away at the gimp learning (its a free program that is similiarish to photoshop but FREE! and a bit hard to figure things out especially if you aren't familiar with photo editing and all the tools.)

If I'm really lucky though, I'll win an amazing giveaway over at Ruby & Roja. Have you seen their designs? Out of all the design companies I've seen, they are my favorites. I've really wanted them to work on a creation for me but just don't have the funds to spend on it. The amazing giveaway is for a Holiday themed design and then 4 designs for the next year! Amazing! I bet they could put together what I've been thinking about doing. Go take a look at the beautiful work they do. and I hate to say this but even possibly enter yourself. You have until Nov. 26 to enter.

Now ignore everything you just read and head on your merry way. Thank you.

You're heading over there aren't you.

I don't blame you. Their amazing designers.

Babylegs

Win 20 Pairs of Baby Leg Warmers from babySNAZZ!

Keurig - A Cup of Excellence in the Morning

How many of you are coffee drinkers?  I love coffee and have a cup every morning.  Just one.  I might have one in the evening but not usually.  There's a coffee maker I want that makes just one cup.  It's the Keurig.  You place a kcup (a little sealed cup with just the right amount of coffee in it for one cup) into the machine and push a button.  Out comes the elixir of mornings.  If you decide to have a second cup, you can change it up and have a different flavor the next time.  All the clean up that is needed is to pop the used cup out.

Now, I haven't tried one but have seen great reviews on them.  I also know that I'd love to have one.  How easy it would be to make coffee in the mornings.  No measuring water, no scooping coffee and getting grounds all over the place, and no waiting for an entire pot to brew.  If all it took was to fill the reservoir chamber, place in a kcup and hit a button to make my coffee, then yes, I would love it.  As Keurig.com says "Keurig Brewed Excellence: One cup at a time"  I'd like a cup of excellence in the mornings.  

I am in luck.  I can try to win one at I'm no supermom.  She's giving one away right now until Nov. 24.  I will be Keeping My Fingers Crossed for this one!

5 Minutes for Mom's Christmas Giveaway

Make sure you head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and enter some amazing giveaways. These end on Nov. 28.

And please be sure to head on over to participate in the Under the Tree program to help families in need this Christmas.

Celebrate International Babywearing Week - My Mei Tai

In celebration of International Babywearing week (Nov. 12-18), Stephanie at Adventures in Babywearing would love to see you wearing your babies. If you do, you could win a sling from Nonny & Boo

In all the times I've mentioned babywearing and how much I love it, I don't think I've ever posted a picture. The mei tai is a Bloo Kangaroo. One from her previous stock that she doesn't make any more. She now makes buckle mei tais. This is the very first day I got the mei tai. I put it on and off we went for a walk. Buttercup was 3 at the time.




Babywearing has so much to offer but my favorites are the closeness and convenience of carrying the girls. One of the main times I wear the girls is out shopping. Pony is not a walker, she's a runner/prancer. If I didn't use a sling while shopping I'd spend every minute running after her. I could put her in the cart but I'm sure she'd climb out even with the seat buckled.

I haven't worn Buttercup in a while. She's 4 now and can walk most places and will stay by us. She does get tired easily and wants to be carried. I'll usually just hold her on my hip. I know she'd still fit in the mei tai and I could easily do it, we just haven't had the need for it lately.

Here's my stash of slings: (*updated 3/1/2012)

Bloo Kangaroo mei tai
Posh Papoose ring sling
Lovey coastal blue lambswool ring sling *
Storchenwiege Anna 4.6 wrap *
Vatanai Koira wrap
Anna Carrie Baby bicycles in teal mei tai *
Zolowear ring sling *
Rockin Baby Sling pouch and ring sling
Munchkin Jelly Bean pouch sling
and two pouches I made myself using this pattern from Karma Baby

Stuffing Myself with Stuffing

One of my favorite holidays is almost here. Thanksgiving. A few reasons why I love Thanksgiving are: Stuffing, being with my family, stuffing, pie (pumpkin and pecan), stuffing, and stuffing myself with stuffing. I kind of like stuffing.

I like all the foods associated with Thanksgiving. This year I roasted real pie pumpkins to use for pumpkin pie instead of the canned pumpkin. I'm hoping it will be good. It was really easy to do, well accept for cutting open one of the pumpkins. The skin was so tough, I had to put it in a plastic bag and smash it on the ground outside. I then scraped the seeds and goo out and put it in the oven to roast until tender. When finished, I let them cool and scraped out the good stuff. A trip through the food processor until smooth and then into freezer bags until Thanksgiving Eve. I'll try and remember to let you know how they tasted.

One year, my aunt hosted the meal and made the turkey. Something looked wrong when it came out of the oven. She had cooked the turkey upside down. She was embarrassed. At least she had remembered to take out the baggie inside. This turkey turned out great though. It was moist and tender. I think every turkey should be cooked upside down.

Another year, with fire extinquisher in hand, we deep fryed a turkey. This one also tasted great but seemed too much of a hassle for cooking it this way every year.

My brother, would love to get a turduckin one of these Thanksgivings. I'm not sure how I feel about mixing my poultry. I guess I'd give it a try but definitely wouldn't want it every year.

I wish for everyone to have a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families. Don't forget the stuffing!

And if anyone needs any help cooking that turkey (so you don't end up cooking it upside down or with the bag of stuff inside) give butterball.com a visit. They'll help you with anything turkey related. And as an added bonus, on Nov. 11, 18, and 25 at 11 - 1 pm CST, you can chat all things turkey with Chris Jordan (Notes from the Trenches), Susan Wagner (Friday Playdate), and Roxanna (Miguelina).

“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Butterball.”

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