Kideos

My young kids, ages 4 - 11 are really into searching youtube to watch videos from their favorite shows, or of their favorite songs, or other funny things they have heard about.

It gives me stress.

I recently stumbled on Kideos: Videos for Kids and we love it!  It is a carefully monitored site with fun, age appropriate videos.  Click here for one of our favorites.

Cherry Creek Designs

I discovered this fun etsy shop not too long ago! Oh, her stuff is so darling!! The shop is called Cherry Creek Designs and you have to check out Heather's stuff. These are two of my favorite items:

I have this ring!!! I LOVE it!!

DIY: Cake Stand

I saw this cute and inexpensive craft project on prudentbaby.com. Click here for all the instructions! Easy!!!

Our local Hobby Lobby just opened last week. On my list (which I suspect I'll always have a HL list) are the cake boards I need to give this craft a try! Very excited about the possibilities.

pen n' paper flowers - GIVEAWAY

Check out this adorable print...

The amazingly talented Jess from pen n' paper flowers created this beautiful, inspiring print!!

And she's giving two of them away!!!

Click here for the fun giveaway. And enter!

And... when you enter, tell her that I sent you! She is giving ONE of the prints away to the person who sends the most people over to her blog!!!

If I win... I'll do a giveaway for a gift card. You can pick Hobby Lobby, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble or Target... those are the places I go most often... and I'll send you a $10 gift card!

Rules for my giveaway... you HAVE to enter the drawing at pen n' paper and you have to mention me in your post. You can either say that Alison sent you... or that Laugh sent you... she'll know they are both me! I will then put every one's names that entered the pen n' paper giveaway into a drawing and randomly select the winner!!!

Hurry, the pen n' paper giveaway ends tomorrow (Tuesday) night!! Be sure to check out her blog while you are there... you will seriously be inspired, perhaps motivated and most certainly awestruck at the creative talents of this girl!!!

I really want the print! Can you tell?

Good luck!!!

Pizookie, a.k.a. Manna from Heaven

I was looking for something this weekend on Seriouseats.com and came across this funny post about

THE.BEST.DESSERT.EVER!!

I've had the privilege of having both a Pizookie from B.J.'s and an ORiGiNAL Pizza Cookie from Oregano's. I favor the Oregano's version... but am not embarrassed to admit to loving the B.J.'s version too! It is a fun dessert to enjoy on date night... or for a fun family night treat!! I found 6-inch cake tins at Smart and Final... perfect for a homemade version!

Happy New Year from George

Shades of Light

I just found a great website... Shades of Light. My mom needs a new lamp in her adorable guest room and either one of these would be perfect!! Shades of Light has lots of great lamps and some neat looking mirrors!

Snuggie!!

$9.99 at Walgreens

Check out the verbage on the box... it was written as if the dog can read!! As if...

Giant Activity Tablecloth

What a great idea for Thanksgiving dinner... or for the time leading up to actually eating Thanksgiving dinner.

This is a $30 activity tablecloth from International Playthings (available at Amazon.com) that can be used, and reused. Use washable markers on the dozens of activities printed on the tablecloth... mazes, word-finds, coloring... and then pop the cloth in to the washing machine for the next event!

Click here for more information.

Happy Halloween

Expressionery.com

One of my favorite websites for purchasing gifts, Expressionery.com, is having a site-wide 40% off sale.

There are some exclusions (which I guess makes it a semi-site-wide sale) and offer expires in January 2010. Use discount code: Holiday.

Panasonic 360-degree Quick Iron

I hate ironing! Hate it! Thus, I rarely iron!

My husband, out of necessity, does 99% of the ironing.

In an effort to be a thoughtful gift giver, I'm thinking of giving him this new iron from Panasonic.

This innovative iron ($50) offers a clever solution to a common ironing problem... it lets you iron more quickly and accurately, thanks to the double-ended soleplate. Move it in any direction and you can get into the tight spots, such as collars and around buttons, easy peasy!

It doesn't solve my ironing problem... but...

Baby Blues

Piggie Pie! by Margie Palatini

I just finished reading "Piggie Pie" by Margie Palatini to my young children! It was such a fun story and my children's reactions were hysterical.

The story is about Glitch the Witch who decides she is totally craving Piggie Pie. She has all the ingredients... including on eye of a fly, but is missing a key ingredient... 8 plump piggies!!

So, off to Old MacDonald's farm flies Glitch!

The story continues with Glitch asking all of the farm animals if they have seen the pigs. The 'farm animals' look an awful lot like some plump piggies...

The artwork is incredible and is such an integral part of the story. Look carefully at each page... the pictures add so much with subtle (and not so subtle) hints to the emotions of the characters!!

My 4-year old kept saying "I just don't like that witch!!!" and would shake his head in disgust!

Any story that engages my children will remain on my 'keep-this-book' list!!

Ice Cream Sandwich Molds

Cute ice cream sandwiches the kids can make themselves???

I love it!!

These molds are in pig, cow and chicken shapes... what adorable sandwiches.

$12 for the set at Amazon. Click here for more information.

Spoon Flower

If I was a quilter...

I would love this website!!!

www.spoonflower.com

At this site, you can turn your creative vision into a fabric reality. Upload a JPEG of your vision to the spoonflower website and your custom-printed cotton fabric will arrive in a couple of weeks!

I.am.not.kidding.

$18 per yard.

I'm going on-line, right now, to look for some quilting classes.

99 Days

... until Christmas!

Backseat Drawing

I found this game online the other day (click here) and am convinced that my kids will LOVE this!

One player instructs another player to draw something, using only basic clues. The cluegiver cannot reveal what is being drawn. Everyone has to guess what the object is before time runs out!

In the regular version... the cards with the items to be drawn are just listed. In the junior version, the cards have simple drawings of things that look pretty easy to explain!

Animoto.com

Check out this free video that I made at Animoto.com!! How fun!!!

Tree Houses

This is the Serendipitree. It is in Oregon and is one of many tree houses available for nightly rentals. The Out'n'About Treehouse Treesort is a bed and breakfast, where a yummy breakfast is provided each morning to all the guests! The tree houses sleep from 2 to 5 guests, so larger families (like mine) would have to rent two tree houses. Note: there is a tree house, called the Cavaltree, that sleeps up to 7! Nightly rates start at $120 for the smaller tree houses... which is very reasonable!!

The treesort offers craft classes, tree house construction classes, horseback riding, and zip lines!!

Click here for more information.

We Remember

Tyke Lights

I live with some little girls that would absolutely go nuts for these! These are heat-free lights are made of durable plastic and are perfect to light the way for little ones. My girls would love these for reading at night for a bit before they go to bed. There are three settings for the lights... high, low and a fifteen minute dimmer!!!

$13 each. Click here for more information!

Labor Day 2009

Nature Valley Nut Clusters

I received the best 'care package' ever a couple of weeks ago from MyBlogSpark... it contained the new product line from Nature Valley. Four packages of their new Nut Clusters... all four flavors.

Nature Valley Honey Roasted Peanut Nut
Cluster

Nature Valley Nut Lovers Nut Cluster

Nature Valley Roasted Almond Nut Cluster

Nature Valley Roasted Cashew Nut Cluster

My favorite flavor was... oh... I really loved the Honey Roasted Peanut, but wait... the Roasted Almond was AMAZING. I know... my favorite was the Nut Lovers because it had peanuts, cashews AND pecans!!!! My 16 year-old son 'lifted' my package of the Roasted Cashew... handed me the empty package at the end of the afternoon and said... "Great find Mom!! I love these!!" So, off to the store I went to find another package of Roasted Cashew Nut Clusters... Let me tell you this... my son was right on!! They were delicious! Seriously, it would be nearly impossible to pick a favorite - they were all very delicious!!

I love the sweet and salty... the texture, the generous amount of nuts in each cluster, the convenience of the resealable package and the price! I have found coupons on the Nature Valley website... and right now, if you sign up for the Nature Valley e-newsletter you will receive a free bag!! (Offer expires 10-15-2009 and supply is limited... so hurry if you are interested) Click here to go to the Nature Valley website.

Irony

When I was a teenager, I worked at a movie theater. (Loved that job, for the record!) It always amused me when people would order extra large popcorn with extra butter, a milk duds, red vines and a diet coke! Ok... seriously... just enjoy the real sugar in a real coke. But, I now know that people can just really prefer diet coke. But still... I appreciated the irony!


It is 25 years later and I still appreciate irony.

Take for example my experience at Sprouts today. (Sprouts is a grocery store with a heavy emphasis on organic, healthy foods... lots of fruits and vegetables, and a very large organic selection!)

I was standing in line to pay and overhead the following conversation...

Lady #1: ... today is the first day back to shopping... I've been recovering from surgery.

Lady #2: Oh man... is everything ok?

Lady #1: Well, I had to have my boob job fixed... one of the sacs was leaking. It was painful, but I'm doing a ton better.

Lady #2: Did you have the sac removed?

ME: THUNK!!!!! that is the sound of me hitting my head on the credit card machine. 'Cuz clearly NOTHING had been removed... if you know what I mean!

Lady #1: Oh no. He just fixed it. Left everything there!

Lady #2: Well... you look great! You are just beautiful!

Lady #1: Thanks! I also had my lips done this summer and LOVE them!

Note: I'm paraphrasing a bit.

It was a difficult conversation to listen to...

these ladies had JUST met... standing in line at the store!!!

Now... to the ironic part!! I bought some raw trail mix. No salt, no sugar, no preservatives. At check out, I asked the cashier if she had ever tried it. She said no. I indicated I was a little nervous because I usually buy salted... but wanted to try raw.

The lady behind me... Lady #1 said... "oh... you'll be so much happier with the organic stuff! When they start adding all the chemicals and crap it just ruins the natural product!!!

It took me several minutes to pull it together enough to trust myself to speak! I love irony!!!

True story!!! I promise!