12 Days of Thanksgiving Day 3

What are you thankful for? Create your post and go here and leave it on mr linky.

I am thankful for silliness at bedtime.

As I was tucking my son into bed last night, I startd pretending to be asleep in his bed. He quickly told me I had to sleep with Jeff. So I called DH into daniels room and he immediately crawled on the other side of Daniel and turned out the lights. We spent several minutes snoring and pretending to be asleep, while cuddling with Daniel, who was giggling like crazy.

Daniel then told my husband he could not sleep in his bed because he was stinky. (Even though they had both taken a shower earlier in the evening)

So i am thankful for laughter and silliness at bedtime, and times together as a family.

Christmas of Dreams Day 5: Giving Back

Today, make a blog post about what you do to give back during the holidays. Do you volunteer your time? If so, please tell us where. What do you do to teach your children the true meaning of the holidays?

Brought to you by Baby Pop and Chic Covers

If you have not already done so, head over to momdot and check out all the cool blogs!

As a child growing up my parents always taught me to be concious of others. Whether it was their feelings or the fact that they might not be as fortunate as we were.

I do not ever remember walking by a Salvation Army bell ringer without putting something in there. Even if it was just a couple of pennies. Daniel has already learned that when he sees them he gets to put the money in. Now I just have to get him to understand why he does that lol!

I have never volunteered at a shelter during the holidays, but was thinking to myself on the way to work this morning, that maybe this would be a good year to start. I will have to run that one by my DH later.

We have already explained to Daniel that he is going to pick out a toy to donate to another little boy that won't have a Christmas like he is going to have. He has already decided on a dinosaur.

I am going to make some scarves to donate to the local drive the radio station is doing this week as well.

We do not do anything big, but every little bit helps. I want to raide my son the way I was, so he understands that, you might not have much to give, but it is better than doing nothing.

12 Days of Thanksgiving Day 2

If you would like to join in or just read more posts go here.

Sorry I missed out on Day One, but here is my day two.

I am incredibly thankful for my wonderful husband.

There really are not words to describe how thankful I am.

He sacrificed a lot to move here for me and my job.

He is patient when I am bitchy. And boy can I get bitchy lol.

He (tries) to let me sleep late on the weekends.

He helps me clean the house.

He washes dishes everyday. Sometimes 2-3 times a day!

He is my best friend who I can talk to about anything.

He puts up with my crazy new ideas, and even suggests some of his own, on how to save money.

He loves my son like his own.

My son loves him, sometimes I think more than he loves me lol.

I could go on and on, but I am truly thankful that we found each other, and that I get to share my life with him.

I am going into hibernation

I had a wonderful weekend! It was nice and relaxing and spent in good company. I mighthave to go into hibernation however until warmer weather. There was snow in NOV!!!!! Ok so it did not stick but it was there.

Daniel had a blast playing at the mall with Hoss on Friday night. He wanted to go back Saturday!

Thanks so much to Lisa for more jewelry making help. And for showing me the stitch I needed to make my neighbors birthday scarf and a scarf for Daniel to match his Spongebob hat and gloves.



He really liked his scarf and was gracious enough to model it for me.



Jeff also volunteered to model the other scarf.

I grabbed an odds and ends leftover trim bag while at Wal Mart and it had a great rhinestone trim that matched my neighbors scarf!



Sunday I spent in the kitchen preparing my neighbors birthday meal, and watching the last race of the season (YAY!) with Jeff.

My husband really is the most wonderful man alive. He cleaned the apt for me on Saturday without having to be asked, and did the laundry on Sunday when I said I REALLY did not want too. So my clothes will be wrinkled for the next week, but it was nice to not have to do them myself. I am truly thankful for my wonderful husband!

Now I have lots of crafts to keep me busy for the next few weeks in preparation for Christmas.

Christmas of Dreams Day 4: What is your favorite holiday recipe

Today's question for Momdot's Christmas of Dreams is brought to you by: Bottlewise and Glow Mama.

What is your favorite Holiday recipe?

That is a good question. Last year was my first year to host any holiday get togethers. My mom handled the turkey for Thanksgiving and I did the rest. I honestly do not remember what I did. I am sure there was a green bean casserole as that is my all time favorite dish to eat. Wow. My mind is a blank.

I am going to be doing Christmas and Thanksgiving all by myself this year and I have no idea how to cook a turkey, but that is what phones are for! I call my mom ALL the time to ask her about recipes and cooking advice.

I will share a recipe that I have recently discovered and I absolutely LOVE it.

Feta Cheese Stuffed Pork Shops

1 contained feta or blue cheese crumbles ( I do not like blue cheese which is what the recipe calls for so I use Feta and it is yummy!

2 green onions chopped

4 pork loin chops bone in or boneless with pockets cut in them by deli

toothpicks

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon flour

3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 (or you can cook these on the grill)

Combine choppen onons and cheese crumbles and stuff in pockets of pork chops. Secure openings with toothpicks.

Place in oven for 30 minutes or so until done.

Combine sour cream, flour and milk and pepper to taste in a sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until mixture boils and then reduce heat and simmer about 3 minutes still stirring until mixture thickens. Pour mixture over chops and garnish with any leftover feta/onion mixture.

This is realtively easy and quick and is super yummy! My husband said it is his favorite meal I cook.

Christmas of Dreams Day 3: Christmas Budgets

The lovely ladies over at momdot have asked the day three question of:

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Do you budget for the holidays? Do you always stick to your budget? Share with us any budgeting tips you may have!

(Cue Sesame Street Music)

This wonderful question was brought to you by: Appledonia, Hippos Toes, Kushies and the number 4. Sorry could not resist that last one!

Budget? What is that? Is that some new curse word today's kids have come up with?

No seriously.

Budgeting has never been my strong point. I do not even have a household budget! But I am working on correcting that. I usually try and keep a running list of how much money we have and what we need to pay out. I handle all the bills in the house out of my account. My husband does not even have one! He just hands the money right over to me every Friday.

I know I am AWFUL!

So no we do not have a budget per se for Christmas this year. We just know there is not a lot to spend, so we are trying to find other ways of giving gifts.

I have stocked up on Bath and Body Works at sales and using coupons. I have begun making jewelry thanks to a friend showing me how. I am searching the scrap fabric for things I can use to make nice inexpensive gifts, so no one feels left out, but we do not go into debt giving to everyone we want to give too. And of course, staying here for the holidays this year instead of going home.



That is just some of the stuff I have gotten.

I guess you could say I have a Christmas Game Plan, not so much a budget. I know what I have to work with and I am doing things to make sure it works.

And yes, for the first time ever, I have already started my Christmas shopping. I am NOTORIOUS for waiting until the last minute. But not this year! I am now supper dupper awesome plan ahead wife! WOO HOO! I even know what I am going to get Jeff. Now I just have to write my list for him to get me, drive him to the mall, show him what is on the list, and then print pictures off for him, just in case he forgets. Yeah he is not the best at picking out prsents. I mean a weather radio for my birthday!?

What Twilight female are you?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

I am an Esme. Who would have guessed?

You can find this and more at www.twilightersanonymous.com

Shoppers be warned: Lots of stores closing due to "recession"

My husband mentioned this the other night and I really did not pay much attention. He said he had been listening to the radio and they were saying that you needed to be careful what gift cards you bought people this Christmas as there are a lot of stores that will be closing after Christmas and the giftcards will not be accepted.

I did not think there was any truth to that but I was WRONG! Yep see DH I can admit when I am wrong. Or I MIGHT be wrong. The article on snopes does not say anythign about the giftcards not being accepted but there are some stores planning on cutting back the number of stores they have.

Here is a link to Sisterly Savings post. She has a link to the snopes article that says the rumor is partially true.

Christmas of Dreams Day 2

Today brings day two in the Christmas of Dreams Blog Party at MomDot.

Brought to you by: La Plates, Let's Go Strolling, and Natity's Design.



Today's question is: Traditions, what are some of your favorite family traditions? What are some that you want to begin?



Honestly, we do not have any traditions yet, as this is our first year as a married couple.

Growing up, my family would always attend the Christmas Eve Service at our church. We have not found a church here yet, but I would like to find a Methodist church who does a Christmas Eve service to attend this year. Last year we went to my husbands church and took communion, but there was no actual service.

I am hoping that this can be the beginning of every other year we spend the holidays at our house, instead of driving all the way home. This will both mine and my husbands first year away from our family during the holidays. They have been invited to come here if they want too, but we are not going home. With the shaky economy and my husband not having PTO at his job yet, we just really did not think we could afford to take the time off to get back home. I think it will be a lot more relaxing to stay here as well.

I am also going to start the Christmas cookie tradition with my son this year. Growing up my Mom had a TON of Christmas cookie cutters. Every year she would make dozens upon dozens of Christmas sugar cookies and let me decorate them. She would buy white icing and all kinds of doo dads to go on them and then let me make my own colored frosting with food coloring. WE had some interesting cookies! Purple santa's, turquoise reindeers, you never knew what you would get. Then we would make plates of them and give to our neighbors, freinds and teachers. As I got older I continued to give my teachers and friends cookies. To this day one of my friends Dad's will start harassing me as soon as Thanksgiving is done, about when he is going to get his goodies.

That is about all I can think of the start this year. I guess we will have to experiment over the next few years and see what works for us. Or maybe I will get some ideas from reading all the blog posts in this contest!

I had to share this post: The Manverse

The fabulous Mrs.Who recently coined the term the "Manverse."

She takes a closer look at the manverse here and readers share their experiences with the Manverse in the comments.

I highly recommend it!

Blog Party Day One

Still have not figured out how to make the pictures a link so go here if you want more info and/or to join in.

Thanks to sponsors La Belle Toile and This and That by Randi

Day 1 Question: Introduce us to your family and share Holiday pics of years past

Well our family consists of:



Me



My husband



My son



Luna



And Spot.

I really do not have too many holiday pics from past years. Last year my hsuband and I were engaged and did celebrate with both our families, but in the excitement, not too many pictures were taken. Lets see what I can find.



This was 2006. Notice the lovely GIRLY pj's my mother had bought for him.



Another from 2006. My sisters LOVELY wrapping job. WOW! I was a lot skinnier.




This was taken at his daycare last year. My little Angel. (Note: Do not let the innocent look fool you.)



Daniel is opening presents and Jeff is putting them together.


This year I am going to take a TON of pictures. This will be our first Christmas being married, in our new city, and without our extended families

Try it Tuesday: Glade Cinnamon Gingerbread Scented Oil Candle

I have never been a big "holiday scents" girl. To me the smell of pine and cinnamon and such were just gross. Now do not get me wrong, I love the smell of FRESH pine and cinnamon but not the scented candle smell. To me they always smelled bad.



I stocked up on Glade products at Meijer's this past weekend since all of the Glade products were half price, and I had a TON of coupons from the previous weeks paper. Imagine my surprise when I was sniffing along and I found a heavenly smell...and it was a Holiday scent!

Cinnamon Gingerbread is one of the yummiest scents I have found. I immediately plugged it in when I got home and I have been loving it ever since. Even my son remarks on the way it smells every time he comes in the door.

Free Hanes Underwear

Hanes has a promotion going on called Wedgie Free Wednesdays. You can go to here every Wednesday and enter to win a free pair of panties.

I got my free pair when they were doing the original promotion a month or so ago, and I just got another free pair in the mail yesterday from this giveaway.

Who can pass up free underwear?

Free Shipping at Macy's

For today only, Macy's is having an awesome Veterans Day Sale! Sale ends at midnight.


Use coupon code: VETSFS

Thank a soldier today...and everyday

Veterans Day has always had a special place in my heart. My father served in the Marine Corps (or Marine Corn as Daniel says) during the Vietnam War. He gave one of his legs and lost many of his friends while serving his country. I have major respect for my father and everyone in the military. It takes a special person to do what they do.

So make sure that you thanks a service man today and everyday when you see them.

Exactly the way I feel today

It has been one of those days.

Free Bottlecap Jewelry Making Class

Lisa at Tribal Witch is offering another free jewelry making class. Go here for more info or to reserve your spot.

I had a blast at the last jewelry class and learned a lot! I can't wait for this one.

Update on Lady Luck

My husband is the most wonderful man alive. The first thing out of his mouth when I got home Friday was "Can we go look at Best Buy tomorrow? I just was curious to see what they have. I thought we could use the gift card for Christmas presents, because there is not anything I really need."

WOOHOO!!!!! I did not even have to ask!!!!!

Luck must be a lady

I have no luck. I never win contests, giveaways etc. I always seem to get the bad end of the deal. I mean how many people do you know that register in a state and in less than 6 months time gets Jury Duty? The only thing I can remeber winning is a book for Daniel from Mrs. Who's blog on Bluegrass Moms.

My husband on the other hand, has been blessed by the Luck fairy it seems.

When we first met he NEVER wore his seatbelt. After a few tears and him finally realizing how important it was to me that he buckle up, he started wearing his seat belt. I was always skeptical if he actually wore it when he was at work, but he swore up and down that he did. About a month after moving here he went through a drive through one day and got a piece of paper from a policeman (not a ticket) to go online and register to win prizes, all because he was buckled up. So he asked me to go online and register him and I did. A week later I get an email telling me he won 2 tickets to the Busch race at the KY Motor Speedway. Yep we went and had a blast!

Then we have the free vacation we won from entering some giveaway at the mall. (Although they were supposed to call us back about that and never did) So that may not ever happen. Oh well. Still counts.

Now he calls me to tell me he won a $100 GC to Best Buy! How the hell did you do that? Oh you know that thing at the supply warehouse they were doing today....Yeah he registered and won...AGAIN.

Now I am just wondering if I can convince him to use it for a Christmas present...Somehow I seriously doubt that.

So luck must be a lady who has a giant crush on my husband. (Who can blame her?)

Free 8x10

You can order a free 8x10 from Walgreens if you order online and use the code FREEPIC. I am using mine to get a picture of Daniel I was planning on getting for my mom and Dad for Christmas! Now it is free!!!!!! YES!