Sunday, October 31, 2010

Sundays in My City

Unknown Mami


Because everyone is so busy with Halloween today,  I thought I would just put up one picture of my 2 month old neice in her Halloween outfit (Daddy's a fisherman).

Here's to lots of candy!!!!
(Oh and her Grandpa took the picture, I can't take any credit!)

Friday, October 29, 2010

Frag'n Friday

Mommy's Idea
Thank you Mrs. 4444s for giving us Fridays to unwind, decompress and unload!

*As I am writing this, 2 men are inspecting my house, attic and basement. They are doing an energy survey to try and save me some money. This is a FREE thing and you could get up to $2000 back on work you have done on your house to help you be more energy efficient. Wow! A company giving money away, what a concept!

*It has been quite a week. I put 600 miles on my car, just running the girls around. I was happy to bring my car to the shop today to put on 2 new tires so I had an excuse to stay home!

*What Scrooge is to Christmas, I am to Halloween. Bah Humbug.

*Last day to get your name in for the 1800FLOWERS GC is Sunday!

*Anyone know of any good books that I can read to get my Masters in Teenager? I have my masters in Early Childhood Ed which has allowed me to fair quite nicely in the younger years. Now, however, I am at a loss.

*K went to a great bday party last weekend for her friend turning 14. The girls had to get dressed up for a nice dinner at the  birthday girl's house and bring up to 5 items to swap with the other girls. They had a blast! She came home with 4 new shirts and a pair of shoes! This is how she looked going to the party. Those shoes were hand me downs, too. I don't think I could stand on them, never mind walk!


*Not to be outdone by her sister, B got spiffed up for church the next morning.


*Spent a few hours at the ER the other night because K was bucked off her horse. I just love hearing about when she gets bucked off a horse. NOT. She just has a very bruised finger, but no broken bones.

*Busy weekend with Halloween parties and a swim meet! Hope you have a good one :)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Once Upon a Time Wednesday....

Once upon a time Wednesday is about things from the past. There are many stories in my head that I want to share with my girls. The trip to Ellis Island, thank you very much Liberty Mutual, this summer made me realize that I had to get these stories documented. History is extremely important and fun!  Play along if you want!

Once upon a time, when the girls were little, we would call farts, "toots". It seemed a lady like thing to call gas from your nether regions. "Toot" also put a cute spin on a smell that was nowhere similar to roses. Over time, they enjoyed the word "fart" more, probably because that is what their cooler and older boy cousins proudly called gas.

When I was little, my parents called farts "heinie-sneezes". Now, to me, my dad was very worldly because he traveled a lot for work. I assumed this was the german word for fart.* I used it freely and frequently thinking that I was so smart.

It did not occur to me until FRESHMAN YEAR IN COLLEGE what the word really meant: a sneeze from your butt. I don't know if we said it so fast that it became just one word in our house or what. I just never really thought it out. Now, I can't say it without laughing which is probably why I stuck with the word "toot" for the girls.

*Melisa, feel free to share that one with Kat :)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Shutterfly Holiday Cards

In my family, the talk of the Christmas card picture for my parents' card starts in the summer. My parents like to have all of us in the picture. We all want it done in the summer when we are tan, but either we are not all together or are too busy or this year it was because my sister had a baby in September. So it will be another picture of us at Thanksgiving looking not so tan and bundled up. Maybe it's better that we don't show too much skin.

My Christmas card is usually made of a bunch of pictures because I take so many throughout the year. It's the letter, poem, song that takes me awhile.

If you watch Better With You, (and you should, it's FUNNY) they had an episode on Christmas cards that was hysterical. They had 3 classifications of cards, "the bowl", "the fridge" and "the mantel". The best went on the mantel and the blahs went into the bowl on the table.

I know how your Christmas cards can be mantel cards! Shutterfly has some beautiful cards this year! (Well they do every year, just ask my family because we've used them.) They also have cards where a percentage goes to a  charity like LIVESTRONG, the American Lung Association and Heifer International. My favorites for this year are: Many Memories Tree, Live Love Laugh and Charming Little Trees. Now it will come down to what pictures to pick.

Shutterfly also has Hanukkah cards, New Year's Day or invitation cards and if you are really on the ball, Thanksgiving cards. The best is that you can pick a card for just one picture or if you are snap happy like me, many pictures.

What? You haven't even thought of your Christmas card yet? Well get going, Shutterfly is here to help! Check out this offer....

Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses blog with integrity, as I do.

Monday, October 25, 2010

1-800 FLOWERS Giveaway!

As I had mentioned here, September and October are the most popular months for birthdays. 1-800 FLOWERS is a fantastic place to order flowers  for that special person in your life. I was lucky enough to be sent a birthday flower cake to review. It is just beautiful and looks almost identical to what was promised. It still looks beautiful today and I received this on the 14th! I cannot tell you how many people have walked into my house thinking that it was a real cake!
From the website:
                                   

Mine: (it did come with candles, too)


Thanks to the kind people at 1-800 FLOWERS, I am giving away a  $40 gift card so you can make yourself or someone you love deliriously happy.

You have 2 ways to enter (please make sure your email address is in the comments, so I can easily reach you).

1. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite flower arrangement from the 1-800 FLOWERS Birthday collection is.
2. Tweet about the giveaway, including a link to this post. Then leave me a comment with your tweet.


Other info: The winner must live in the US (sorry, foreign friends!). You have until the end of the day, Sunday (Oct 31st) to enter. I will be using random.org to pick the winner from all the comments. If you win, you have 3 days to respond to my email with your mailing address: if I don't hear from you, I will draw another winner.



OK, go look at all those beautiful arrangements and don't forget to follow 1-800 FLOWERS on facebook and twitter.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Sundays in My City

Unknown Mami


Yesterday, my town held it's first October-fest! Many of the stores around town entered a pumpkin person or persons into the pumpkin people contest. I have no idea which one won, but here is a sample of some of the best!










Very clever!!!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Butterfingers

With Halloween right around the corner, everbody is thinking about CANDY!

Do you want to be the greatest house on the block or do you want to have your house tp-ed?

Do you want to be memorable to all the kids in the neighborhood or do you want your pumpkins smashed?

Do you want to be a Halloween legend in the trick or treaters' minds or do you want your house egged?

There is a new candy on the block this year and it is called Butterfinger Snackerz. Some genius has taken the regular Butterfinger candy and put them into small little squares. The squares are more wafery (that's a word, right?) and lighter than the regular Butterfinger bar.

Since Butterfinger was so generous in sending me a bag, I passed them out to my friends and family to get their reactions,  too.  I got a 100% thumbs up from everybody. I love Butterfinger bars, but don't like how I have to pick my teeth (in a very lady like fashion) due to all the peanut buttery goodness stuck there. With the Snackerz, I did not have that problem.


So, in conclusion, to be the house that rocks the trick or treating world (in my humble opinion), go out and fill your bowl with Butterfinger Snackerz! I know I already have!

I was given a bag of Snackerz and not forced or paid to write this review. It is my own opinion.