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I've finally done it. I've been meaning to for months and months. I just never got around to it. Take a look over there to the left. I've finally added a feed to my blog. You can now subscribe to my feed in a reader or by email. Go ahead and sign up. I'll try to provide some interesting blog posts for you.

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No Photos

I was bad! I didn't take a single photo at Christmas with my camera. I did take a few with my mother's camera though. I'll have to see if I can get some pictures of the girls playing with their gifts later.

I hope everyone had a great time with family at Christmas.

Indulge with Yummie Tummie

The Holidays are here and it's a time for family, fun and food. And with food comes overindulgence especially during the Holidays when the food is richer and tastier. There's no better time to indulge than right now. Forget your worries about the economy and what to get your brother's uncle's girlfriend's father's mother for Christmas.

I've got a great site for you to visit to help with the indulging. EatDrinkandBeYummie.com has something for every one's appetite, whether you love desserts or the main meal or just love to snack on those appetizers. Find some amazing recipes, tips on places to eat or add your own favorite indulgence. While your there, check out Yummie Tummie, the amazing shapewear that is meant to be seen.

About Yummie Tummie:

Heather Thomson, the celebrity stylist who has dressed Beyonce', Jennifer Lopez and P. Diddy, and the founder and designer of Yummie Tummie recognizes that we need to overindulge now more than ever. And who better than Yummie Tummie to bring it to you, because when you've had your fill - and then you've had some more - Yummie Tummie has you covered!

Yummie Tummie, the first shapewear brand that is comfy, sexy, and meant to be seen will visibly slim, shape and smooth you. It's the first shapewear on the market that is actually comfortable enough to wear all day and evening.

Visit www.EatDrinkandBeYummie.com for a full list of all your favorite overindulgences, rate your favorites, and upload new indulgences, find recipes to all your favorite treats, grab the widget to add the daily indulgences to your site, and watch Yummie Tummie on Oprah!

Look for a review of the Yummie Tummie in the new year!

"Only Hearts Club" at Simple

Simple is giving away an Only Hearts Club prize pack. enter before Dec. 27.

These dolls are so cute. We have one of these dolls but would love to have some friends for her. Make sure you stop by and enter. There will be five winners.

"The Promise" (Music Tag)

Found this at Treeswing Reading and thought it would be fun.

Put your iTunes/Other music device on shuffle.
For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
Tag friends who might enjoy doing this.

Here we go:

• If someone says "Is this okay?" you say? - Crazy (aerosmith)
  

• What would best describe your personality? - Everybody Wants to Rule the World (tears for fears)
  

• What do you like in a guy/girl? - Gypsy (fleetwood mac)
  

• How do you feel today? - Always (bon jovi)
  

• What is your life's purpose? - Break on Through (to the other side) (the doors)
  

• What is your motto? - Right Here Waiting (richard marx)
  

• What do your friends think of you? - Simple Man (brandon heath)
  

• What do you think of your parents? - Tears of the Saints (leeland)
  

• What do you think about very often? - Tomorrow She Goes Away (the ramones)
  

• What is 2+2? - Who Needs Love (like that) (erasure)
  

• What do you think of your best friend? - All Day and All of the Night (the kinks)
  

• What do you think of the person you like? - Blue Savannah (erasure)
  

• What do you parents think of you? - Renegade (styx)
  

• What will you dance to at your wedding? - We Got Annie (annie soundtrack)
  

• What will they play at your funeral? - Take My Breath Away (berlin) (this one cracked me up)
  

• What is your hobby/interest? - To The Only God (david crowder and shane & shane)
  

• What is your biggest secret? - Live It! (paul colman trio)
  

• What do you think of your friends? - The Perfect Nanny (mary poppins soundtrack) (I think this one should be what my friends think of me and I agree)
  

• What's the worst thing that could happen? - You and Only You (ffh)
  

• How will you die? - True Colors (cyndi lauper)
  

• Does anyone like you? - You Drive, I'll Ride (ffh)
  

• If you could go back in time, what would you change? - A Man Has Dreams(the life I lead)/A spoonful of sugar (mary poppins soundtrack)
  

• What hurts right now? - Dedicated to the One I Love (the mamas & the papas)
  

• How do you feel about your day? - Fire and Rain (james taylor)
  

• How's your love life? - Hey (leeland)
  

• If your life was a tv show, what would it be called? - The Real Thing (gwen stefani)
  

• What's your party song? - Walk This Way (run d.m.c and aerosmith)
  

• What will you do for a living? - How Sweet It is (to be loved by you) (james taylor)
  

• what was the weather like today? - Peppermint Twist (american graffiti soundtrack)
  

• What was/will graduation (be) like for you? - Runaway (american graffiti soundtrack)
  

• What were your dreams like last night? - Spam (save ferris)
  

• What will you post this as? - The Promise (when in rome)
  

want to play too? Post a comment with a link to your blog post.

What is Beauty?

Have you ever looked in a mirror and not liked what you see or wished you looked more like someone else? I admit I've had these thoughts before. I don't like that I've thought them and have consciously tried to change my thinking. I'll take another look to find something I do like.

Did you also know that girls as young as 8 think these same things? There is a growing problem in the United States with regard to how young girls view themselves. Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem, commissioned by the Dove® Self-Esteem Fund found that seven in ten girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members. I encourage you to read the entire report here (pdf file)(http://www.rocketxl.com/dsef/assets/DSEF_Report.pdf) . An alarming number of these girls with low self-esteem are engaging in harmful and destructive activities.

I have several young girls who I care deeply about in my life. They range in ages from 2 -18. I want them to be able to look at themselves with respect and to have a healthy and positive body image. It's very hard in today's world to have a positive self image when we are bombarded with media telling us otherwise. Take a look at this quick video from Dove. It really shows what we face everyday from the media.

With this onslaught of images you may wonder how do you build and support a girl's growing self-esteem? I have these same questions. My niece was given a nickname (that I do not approve of) by a friend of her parents. He calls her Chubby and has called her this since she was very young. My niece is a very slender and tall 4 year old. I wonder what him calling her Chubby will do to her self image as she grows? I know I have said things about my weight in front of her. Not on purpose, the comments have just slipped out. I wonder what that will do to her as well. I really try to keep a lid on those type of remarks.


Dove has been a driving force in changing how girls and women view beauty by widening the medias definition of what is beautiful. In doing so they are also changing how society views beauty. Dove created The Dove Self-Esteem Fund which was established to inspire and educate girls about these wider definitions of beauty. They are committed to reaching 5 million girls globally by 2010 with self-esteem programming. Thanks to the support of influential women globally, Dove has already reached 2 million girls and conducted nearly 2,700 educational self-esteem workshops since 2006. Way to go Dove!

Do you remember those questions I had earlier? How to build up a girl's self-esteem? Dove has created a website http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/ where you can get information and free self-esteem building tools for girls, moms, and mentors. These tools can be downloaded right from your computer and include a workbook, Trueyou! for mothers and girls do to together. There are quizzes and games for girls to play and information for moms too. There is also information on hosting your own Real Beauty workshop. I say if you know a girl under the age of 20, whether it be your daughter, niece, granddaughter or friend's daughter, head on over to Dove's website to find out how you can help build her positive self-esteem. Every little bit of positivity helps.

Visit Jolly Mom for Great Giveaways

I just found a great new site that is having an awesome giveaway from Plan Toys. Jolly Mom is having 2 weeks of giveaways and the largest is a wooden food set from Plan Toys. Make sure you check it out.

Pettiskirt fun at I Never Grew Up

I just found this great giveaway at I Never Grew Up. It's for a pettiskirt from Precious Car-Go. I'm not sure of the end date so you better head on over soon.

Extreme Babywearing

There are 4 babies in that mei tai. Well, 1 baby, 1 groovy girl, 1 snoopy, and 1 carebear.

Wrapped Up at Quiverfull Family

Quiverfull Family is giving away your choice of Sleepy Wrap. I've never tried a wrap and would love to. If you would like to try one as well, head on over before Dec. 14.

A Peek at my Bookshelf a Great Place for Book Reviews

If you like to read great books and also like to read reviews about those books, make sure to stop by A Peek at My Bookshelf. You can find information on the latest releases, read great reviews, and even win a book or two. I hear that there is going to be a great giveaway event happening in January. So make sure to stop by and say hi.

Along for the Ride

Win a Free Organic Embroidered Ergo Baby Carrier Hands Free System from Along for the Ride

Visit Mom Most Traveled for Some Great Giveaways

Mom Most Traveled is giving away a Rockin' Baby pouch. If you would like to enter, you have until Dec. 14.

Make sure to browse the other posts as well. There are some great giveaways going on.

A Keurig is on Mommy's Mind

I've got a great giveaway to tell you about but you've really got to hurry. What's on Mommy's mind is giving away a Keurig coffee maker. It's on my wish list. Go enter now before the end of the night tonight.

A Tutu for Pony and a Tututorial for You

A few weeks ago, Buttercup and I made her sister, Pony, a Christmas present. We made her a tutu. The tutu was very easy to make for a 4 year old. Buttercup caught right on and did lots of the work. She just got bored of all the tying towards the end and wanted me to finish it. Here's how we did it.

Materials:

2 colors of tulle rolls (I think they were 25 yards?)
scissors
a length of cardboard to wrap tulle around so you don't have to measure each one. We used a quilters cutting guide made from plexiglass. It was the perfect size and sturdy.
elastic to fit around waist (it does stretch as you make the tutu so you might want to make it smaller than you think or find better elastic than I had)

• Put the tulle roll on a long pencil or broom handle or anything else you have lying around.

• Take one end of the tulle and either hold it or tape it to your long rectangle of choice (cardboard, plexiglass quilting thing, or anything similar you have lying around (you do have stuff lying around right?))

• Next I just started flipping while Buttercup held the spool. We used the entire length of tulle but ended up not needing all of it. We didn't want too poofy of a tutu.

(no photos I was too busy flipping)

After you have all the tulle wrapped around the quilting ruler thing, cut along the bottom of each edge. You should now have long rectangular sheets of tulle all stacked together. This is what your stacks will look like after a 4 year old has worked with them for a bit.

• place elastic around a stool or chair or have someone hold it for you. It's easier to work with this way.

• put 2-3 (depending on fullness desired) pieces of tulle sheets together (any color combination, mix it up and have some fun)

• fold sheets in half making a loop at the top.
  

• Put thumb and finger through loop and hold up to front of elastic.

• bring loose ends from bottom of elastic around the back of the elastic and grab with thumb and finger through the loop. You should now have made a knot onto the elastic.

• Are you still with me? Did I loose you? Here I'll show a few pictures to help.

• Keep on tying on the tulle until you've reached your desired fullness.

Here's Buttercup showing off the finished tutu for her sister Pony. I think this project took less than an hour to do. Buttercup had a bit of difficulty figuring out the tying but she quickly got it and didn't need any further help until she got bored and wanted me to finish it.

Recital Frock Giveaway at Grosgrain

Recital Frock GIVEAWAY

Make sure you head on over and take a look. It's really cute.