Happy New Year's Eve!!

Fact or Crap

We got this fun game for Christmas this year. It is an interesting way to play a trivia game. I love trivia, but hate looking like an idiot when I don't know something that everyone else knows. This is a perfect solution for me.

In a nutshell... to play, one player is the reader and reads bits of trivia to the other players. Each player indicates, with a card, if they believe the trivia to be fact or crap. You get more points if you guess correctly and guess first. You also lose points if you guess incorrectly. It was a fun, fast paced game.

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Sample trivia statements:

Tom Thumb's coffin was only 3 feet and 10 inches long. Fact or Crap?

Karlsbad, Bad Ragaz and Baden Baden are all family health spa locations. Fact or Crap?

Queen Elizabeth's great grandmother, the Duchess of Teck, was heiress to a toothbrush manufacturing fortune. Fact or Crap?

The Schwimmwagen was an amphibious model of the Volkswagen Beetle. Fact or Crap?

Leonardo da Vinci produced a blueprint for a machine gun? Fact or Crap?

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Answers:

All are fact, except for the Queen Elizabeth statement, which is crap!

Stuffing

½ cup of celery, chopped
1/3 cup onion, chopped
4 oz butter
12 c dry bread, cubed
½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp sage
1 ½ cups chicken broth (I prefer Progresso)

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9x13 dish. Saute onion and celery in butter until onion is transparent. In a large mixing bowl, mix bread, cooked vegetables and seasonings. Add the chicken broth slowly to the bread, tossing until evenly moist. Place dressing in prepared dish and bake until thoroughly heated, and lightly brown, 25 – 35 minutes

Merry Christmas

Progresso Broth Giveaway - WINNERS

Congratulations to the following winners...

MarieC, Nikki and Kim and Nathan!!!

You have each won this great basket of goodies from Progresso!!!!

And thank you to Progresso for this fun giveaway!

I will post my favorite stuffing recipe tomorrow... Progresso Chicken Broth is perfect for it!!

Jan Brett's Christmas Books

Oh, our Christmas eve choices... which one should we choose?

Probably all of them... and a few other old favorites thrown in for fun!

I love Jan Brett... I love all of her books! But the Christmas ones will always be my favorites!

Wizard of Id - Christmas Dinners

Wintergreen Lozenges

I LOVE these silly little candies!

You can buy them at CVS stores for 99 cents for a five-ounce bag. OR... you can buy them online at places like this for about $21 for 5 pounds. 5 pounds... how dreamy!!

3 Sisters Love on PERCH!

You really need to check out my friend Justina's blog for a fun giveaway. Click here for the details.

3 Sisters Love is a fun little shop on Etsy. If you haven't been to Etsy ever, or even recently, take a few minutes to check it out today!

Progresso Broth Giveaway

Progresso is making it easier to create your favorite holiday recipes with the introduction of all-natural Progresso Chicken, Reduced Sodium Chicken and Beef-flavored broths. Progresso’s broths are 99% fat free and contain no preservatives, artificial flavors, or MSG! They even come in convenient, re-sealable 32oz cartons.

My favorite recipes that use broth are Stuffing, Hawaiian Haystacks, French Dip Sandwiches with Au jus, and of course... homemade chicken noodle soups!!

Because the holidays are also about sharing, Progresso has offered “Perfect Recipe” gift baskets to share as a giveaway!! The baskets include a free coupon for Progresso Broth, a recipe card holder, recipe box and wicker basket, as well as a set of serving spoons and a spoon rest.

Click here for a great coupon from Progresso. And click here for some great recipe ideas from Progresso. There are so many yummy recipes on this site... I'm going to try the Mashed Potato Au Gratin for the holidays this year... looks so good!!

You need to enter by Tuesday, December 23 at midnight! Winners will be randomly selected. Remember... leave me a way to contact you if you win! Good luck! And thank you to Progresso for a fun giveaway!

Bottlecap Tripod

Click here for information about this cool little gadget. It is a tiny, light-weight tri-pod that fits on top of just about any plastic bottle.

It is perfect for the photographer on your list... or for someone who is getting a camera under the tree this year! At $10 each, they make the greatest stocking stuffers!

Two Websites for Delivery Options

If you have packages to mail, and aren't sure the best delivery option...

visit www.shipgooder.com for price comparisons betweek USPS, FedEx, DHL and UPS. All you have to do is enter your zip code, the recipient's zip code and package weight.

If you are tempted to deliver the gifts in person... to say, your friend in WA (oh, I wish), go to www.fuelcostcalculator.com and AAA will tell you how much your road trip will cost! Phoenix to Seattle would be $200 in my car.

My Street Signs

Check out MyStreetSigns for a great and unique gift idea. You can personalize these signs with anything you want.

Mine is going to say... Disneyland 359 mi

One of our favorite teachers at school would love Conway Circle.

The ideas are endless.

All-Star Cookie Cutters from Williams Sonoma

You can make (notice I did not say that I can make) these adorable cookies with the All-Star Cookie Cutter Set from Williams Sonoma. I love sugar cookies, and I love using them as favors at parties, and fortunately I have found two bakeries that will make them for me! They will even use my own cookie cutters for special orders!

The All-Star Cookie Cutter Set is $25 for a set of 8.

Mite Tees

Mite Tees offers these darling shirts... up to 6T. (6T??? Never heard of it, but that is what their site says.) Anyway... they are all able to be personalized and I think they are so simple, yet darling!

Amazingly Simple Home Remedies

• Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop
• For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.
• A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
• If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives; then you'll be afraid to cough.
• You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD -40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.
• If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

Thanks to my friend Marie for this great post!

Armored Penguin

If you are like me and you have a difficult person to shop for on your list...

YOU MUST SEE THIS WEBSITE

http://www.armoredpenguin.com/

Armored Penguin can generate puzzles, with clues YOU give it. For free! They have generators for crossword puzzles, word search puzzles and word scrambles. I love the idea of creating a booklet for teachers, grandparents, siblings, etc., with personalized puzzles!! What a great idea!

I created my first word search puzzle this morning, saved it to my computer, edited it in Word and printed it out. It'll be a fun activity for my girls after school today!

Also, on this website there are some fun logic puzzles... I played the Bagels game and am hooked! I've marked the site as a favorite.

Top Chef Apron

I love Top Chef. I'm not a Top Chef... or even a Middle Chef... but I still think this is a super cool gift idea. I would love one!

However... Bravo TV Online is saying that this $30 apron is sold-out. Maybe for my birthday?

White Turkey and Corn Stew

White Turkey and Corn Stew

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 cups diced cooked white turkey meat
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. mild jalapeño sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 10-oz. box frozen corn
1 15.5-oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 4-oz. can diced green chilies, drained
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat the oil in a 4-quart, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the onion and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and continue cooking for 30 seconds.

2. Add the turkey, cumin, chili powder, jalapeño sauce, salt and chicken broth. Mix well. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

3. Stir in the corn, beans and chilies and cook until heated through. Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream and cilantro. Serves 6 to 8.

Thanks to Family Fun for the recipe!!

Re-stickable Decal Photo Frames

I love this idea. Re-stickable photo frames... WOW!

At the Photojojo store, an 8 pack of these frames is only $20.

I think this is a great gift idea for college students and teenagers... and I can think of many uses in my home for these!