Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Riddle ... What happens when you ....

decide to do a fun, fall caramel apple party with your kids? Scroll down ....

well, if one has a loose tooth, it just may get pulled out by the caramel on the second bite.

Much better, in his opinion, than me pulling it out with a tissue. He lost his other one the next night. We kept that tooth fairy busy two nights in a row.


Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Watercolor Giveaway


I love finding giveaways on the mommy blogs. Here's a new one. Offered by Sitting Pretty Studios. Another amazingly generous offer, I cannot believe the generosity of some of these bloggers out there. Go now and sign up. Click the link on the side bar or above.


Sunday, October 19, 2008

wholesale shopping trip


It's been a while since I photo'd one of my shopping trips. Here's my trip to a wholesale place. Two birdhouses which will become Christmas birdhouses here soon {watch Etsy}, more ribbons, SB joined Daisies so I got a daisy flower candy mold and some melting chocolate, also see those two tall metal candle holders? They are a dark brown, I'm going to spray them a different color and see where they will fit in around here, also spraying the fleur de lis a cream color for our center in the basement. And, of course, more fun ribbon. I love fuschia tulle, I use it to wrap around my Etsy packages and also I use a ribbon on presents. I like it so much better than regular ribbon because it's big and fluffy.

Follow me ...

So blogspot has come out with a new, neat gadget called "Follow Me." Sign up to follow me and I will visit your blogspot and sign up to follow you. I have a few sites that I look at frequently, and this lets me know if those particular blogs has been updated without having to actually go to the blog. You follow me, I'll follow you. Isn't that a Dr. Seuss book? It's neat.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Greek Bread Salad

Want a nice, quick, light meal, but enough to fill up even Big N? Then try this salad. I started making this the other day and thought after I had it half way finished, that I should blog about it because we make this fairly often.
In the bowl already:
3-4 medium size tomatoes chopped
2 cucumbers chopped
2 8 oz. containers of feta {we use light}
then I took the photo, next:
1 small red onion, chopped
1 bottle of Greek Salad Dressing {ken's steakhouse is the best}
crusty bread, olive oil, garlic salt
Mix tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, onion and dressing in bowl. You may want to only add half the bottle of dressing and refrigerate for an hour. Stir it up and drain any water and add a bit more dressing. The cucumbers and tomatoes produce a bit of excess water.
Meanwhile, cut bread into cubes and put on baking sheet, coat bread with olive oil and sprinkle some garlic salt and bake at 350 for about 7-10 minutes.
To serve, put bread cubes in a salad bowl and add salad on top. We like to cube the bread small enough so we don't have to cut it as we like to eat on big comfy chairs with out legs tucked underneath and the last thing we want to do is use a knife.

I'm in love .... and his name is GE Profile French Door


Oh, sounds so European, doesn't it. Well, here's my new man. LOVE IT. How did I live so long without this guy in my life? As many of you know, we recently finished our basement. Big B built a small alcove underneath the steps for a refrigerator and a cabinent with a little counter space for a microwave. We didn't want a bar in the basement, nor did we feel it necessary to put a sink in this area. We had a refrigerator in the garage, but honestly in the winter it gets too cold out there and our frig would stop working about about 2 months of the year. Not too practical or convenient. We just sold that refrigerator at our garage sale. We ended up buying a new refrigerator (my new crush) and putting our current kitchen refrigerator in the basement.




Mr. French Doors is very handsome. I feel the freezer part holds about the same amount as my side-by-side. But the refrigerated part definitely holds more, or at least it's a more efficient use of space and feels like it holds more. It also has the LCD lighting which is kind of space age and cool, not to mention energy efficient. If you're in the market for a new refrigerator in your life, check this out. Our research found the GE and the LG to be the ones out there.





Friday, October 17, 2008

Free QUILT Giveaway

OH MY GOSH ~ What a generous giveaway this is from pinktails and snails. She is offering her beautiful, one of a kind, original creation. Go now and look at it, you'll love it. Or you can click on the banner at the side here and go, go now, go, go.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Do you ever feel guilty being a SAHM?

I know I do. I feel extremely blessed to be able to stay home to raise our children, but at the same time, I feel guilty that I don't contribute monetarily to this household. I know, I know. I contribute in every other way. And surely nothing beats staying home to get my kids on the bus in the morning and to get them off the bus in the afternoon, to be able to stay home in the mornings to play with Sophie, to take all of them to their different after school activities. But when I want to buy something, a big ticket item, say a Dyson vacuum clean, I feel guilty. Having my wholesale business over the last couple years has helped although that's not something I'll make a boat load of money on either. Enough to take the guilt away a bit. Maybe it's the fact that I worked a long time and had my own salary, my own condo. I got married in my early 30's and had children quickly. I went from making a very good salary to motherhood in a matter of one year. I wouldn't change it for the world, but I feel guilty. Do you?

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Homemade Foam Soap Refill

I love foam soap and so do my kids. But I hate paying the price for it because I feel like I'm really paying for the dispenser. So here's a recipe, save your bottles and make your own:

3 Tbs. liquid hand soap
2/3 cup warm water

Gently mix the ingredients together, do not shake. Let it settle for about 10 minutes and then you're ready to use it. Of course you can substitute a scented dish soap instead of hand soap. Depending on the size of your bottle, you may have to adjust. Be sure to leave a little room at the top of the dispenser so when you put your pump back in it doesn't overflow.