It's here!!!!

I got something wonderful in the mail today!!! Diane had a giveaway on her blog for the adorable print Elf Sisters, and I won! And I got it today! I celebrated by doing a happy dance in the kitchen and ignoring Hubby's "she's finally lost it" look. I don't have it in a frame yet, but it will be framed soon. I really don't want to give it away, but my older sister's birthday is in November, and it reminded me of the fashion shows we used to put on when we were little. Ugh, sisterly love or pure selfishness... I have a couple weeks to decide.

It's another Bloggy Giveaway!

Edit: This giveaway has been closed. Check back for more contests!

I was going to wait to post this on Sunday because I already had something to give away for the Carnival, but you can never have too much free stuff, huh?

So here we go! I've got THREE Chex Mix Bar gift baskets. That's right THREE! If you haven't tried the Chex Mix Bars, you seriously need to go out and buy every box you can get your hands on. They are SO good! I know from experience because I just ate one. They have Chex cereal pieces, nuts, pretzels, chocolate, and the entire bar is drenched in caramel. My fingers are sticking to the keyboard just a little.

The best part? They only have 150 calories per bar, and each bar has at least 8 grams of whole grain. If you consider that we should eat 48 grams a day, eating the whole box doesn't seem so bad does it? Oh, don't pretend like you don't have those days. It's only six bars. Come that time of the month, a rough Monday, eating six of these gooey, salty but sweet, yum bars will be a piece of cake! I gotta stop talking about them before I eat another one. Really, they're like healthy candy bars; another one won't hurt. Hold on...

Okay, so look at the gift basket while I finish chewing.




Now I need some milk. Anyway, not only will you get a whole box of the yummy bars, you get some chocolate scented candles, caramel lotion (which smells so good that they had to put a warning not to eat it on the bottle), and a bunch of spa accessories. I know the pictures kind of small, but we are talking full size stuff here, people, and I've got THREE to give away!

To enter the drawing for one of the three baskets, just leave me a comment with the last time you were able to really pamper yourself and what you did. Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you if you win! The drawing will be on Saturday 11/1 at 8pm EST.

Be sure to visit my other giveaways here, and to see all the other goodies being offered, go to the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival site.

Free stuff on Sundays!!!

Edit: This giveaway has been closed. Check back for more contests!

Let me just start by saying that a half full bottle of neon blue food dye will cover the entire bottom half of a 35 pound four year-old quite nicely. Maybe you'll get pictures before it fades. Maybe.

Okay, so here's the giveaway for this week! Pillsbury has a new frozen pastry bite called Savorings. They're pretty darn tasty! I tried the mozzarella and pepperoni flavor today, and even though they are perfect accompaniment for a glass of wine, they went pretty good with a Sunday afternoon football game, too.

I was a little disappointed because the flavor I really wanted to try (cheese and spinach) was sold out at my local superstore, so it was either the mozzarella and pepperoni or buffalo style chicken. It was too hard to decide, so I closed my eyes and pointed. Oh yeah, I'm scientific like that.

After I tasted the mozzarella and pepperoni Savorings, I quickly got over my dissapointment. Pillsbury knows what they're doing. The outside pastry stayed light and crispy even though the filling was deliciously oozy. Yum!



This is an awesome set! You'll get a corkscrew, a really nice wine stopper, a set of wine glass charms, a booklet on pairing wines, one of those noshing plates with a slot for your stemware, and a great gift bag with tag! Oh, and a coupon to try the Savorings of your choice for free! Even if you're not a big wine drinker, this would make a great hostess gift for those holiday parties coming up soon. Pair it with a great bottle of wine and you'll be sure to get invited back over and over!

If you want to be included in the drawing, which will be held on Saturday, November 1st at 8pm EST, just leave me a comment about who you would love to have at your next get together and why. It could be anyone, dead or alive, famous or not. Don't forget to leave a way for me to contact you in case you win, too. Good luck!

I've got more giveaways for the Carnival here, and to check out some other great giveaways, visit the Bloggy Giveaways site!

Ladies and Gentlemans, we have a winner!

Congratulations to Tracey over at just another mommy blog! She's won the gift set from Yoplait! Check back on Sundays for your chance to win some great prizes.

And the First Annual Shovelball Champion is...

My kids play this game I like to call shovelball. It involves plastic beach shovels, a foam ball, and let's just say that my plug-in air fresheners rarely survive. They stand a few feet apart from each other and hit the ball back and forth with the plastic shovels. It's something similar to cricket in its swinging style, but there's usually a child running back and forth between them trying to catch the ball like monkey in the middle. Come to think of it, the middle position may have been created because we only have two shovels and there are usually three children trying to play. And you can't forget the screaming. Oh, the screaming is the best/worst part depending on whether or not you're participating in the game.

The game usually starts in the kitchen (where many appliances and breakables live), but I herd them into the hallway where the doomed air freshener awaits. If I'm fortunate someone will leave a pair of dirty socks and/or shoes in exactly the right spot to cushion the glass as it hits the ceramic tile. This was the case today. I knew there was a reason I don't pick up throughout the day.

I thought you might enjoy an action shot of my two-year old monster, so here you go. Notice the precarious position of my air freshener.

Oh, and don't forget to enter the giveaway for an insulated lunchbox, children's game, and yogurt!

I am so gonna give away a prize, like now!

EDIT- This giveaway is over, but check back on Sunday for another great giveaway!

My kids love yogurt, I love giving them yogurt, and I REALLY love that Yoplait has a kids yogurt that has 25% less sugar than the other guys. And face it, do children really need any more sugar? (My little monsters know who slips them candy without Mommy knowing, and they also know how to hide the wrappers. Thanks, Mom!) They really don't care so much about the 25% less sugar as much as the fact that Dora and Boots are on the packaging. Oh yes, you heard me right, Dora and Boots are on the packaging!

But seriously, you can't even tell that Yoplait has left out some of the sugar, because it's still yummy yogurt. Yes, I confess I ate one, too. I also made a smoothie with sliced banana, some milk, and one portion of the strawberry flavored yogurt. Whiz it up in a blender, and you've got a much cheaper version of a smoothie store health shake.

Yoplait also did something really smart and made the yogurt thick enough that it won't slide off the spoon when a certain two year-old monster feeds himself. I love you, Yoplait! More importantly, the grout between the tiles on my dining room floor loves you. Now if I could only convince Cheetos to make colorless doodles that taste the same... No, my furniture did not start out orange.

Anyway, I have a great prize for one lucky reader! Leave me a message with your child's (or your) favorite yogurt flavor (my kids love the strawberry banana), and I'll add you to the hat. Saturday (10/25) at 8pm, I'll draw someone at random, and they will win an insulated cooler to keep yogurt cool on the go, a Brain Quest card set for two to three year-olds, and a coupon for free Yoplait kid's yogurt! How awesome is that? You know you want it, so leave me a message, just make sure you leave a way for me to contact you if you win.

Move over Carrie Underwood!

My princess had a solo in church on Sunday. I'm so proud I had to post it here. She's only four years-old, but she sang clearly and stayed on key. Just as a side note, she had on fancy socks (that took me 20 minutes to find), but decided to remove them in her classroom right before she went on stage, and I didn't notice until it was too late. I try, people, I try.

Her solo is in the second song if you would like to skip ahead.

Bloody rat, anyone?

I have been redeemed!!!! In many ways really, but I'm talking about my bleeding Elmo cake disaster. I made a rat cake for a friend's birthday (he's an exterminator so it makes more sense than you would think). He wanted it to look bloody when you cut it, and I thought this was the perfect chance to retry the bleeding cake. I used pound cake and less blood, so I was confident it would work. It did! I even took a video of it being cut (no sound sorry), so you could get the full experience.

Enjoy!

That's it! Go sit on the porch!

Oy, it's been a while. I'm sorry- I know you people out in the interwebs are just chomping at the bit wondering if I've fallen off the edge of the world. I'm still alive!

This home school thing is harder than I hoped it would be. Not that I can't handle the first grade work, I just can't handle my whiny child. He hasn't figured out that the sooner he starts it, the faster he's done. He's allowed to watch tv after he finishes everything, but he insists on dragging his feet and whining the whole time. And when I say whining, I mean WHINING! He makes this high pitched, nasal "uuuhhhhhh" noise that reminds me of newborn puppies. It's not something I enjoy. We've been known to make him sit on the porch until he stops.

So, yeah, that's my rant for the day. In other news, we may be getting a Youth Pastor for our youth group! Hooray! Hubby and I will still be helping out, but someone else will be in charge of planning activities and giving devotionals. I'll probably still be picking games, but that's fine.

I still haven't finished those two baby blankets, but it's in the eighties outside, so I have time. I'm not procrastinating; I just don't have time. Well, maybe procrastinating just a little... What's new, huh?