It was a good year!

This week has been a tough one. I have been working very hard to meet my deadline of the 31st to be done with every last touch of my book. I've had to sacrifice not blogging very much, spending time with the kids, visiting other blogs, and pretty much anything else in my life. It was hard, but I did it. How was I rewarded? Emily was up all night with the flu, puking every half hour. Happy New Year's Eve to me. I think I'm going to have to drink lots of coffee today to make it to midnight tonight. I have some posts that I meant to get up this week, but I promise to put them up in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I wanted to leave you with this slideshow I made from photos I've posted through out the year-I was pressed for time, so I just used Smilebox. Sorry, if it's not all professional looking. Have fun tonight, kiddos' ! Happy New Year!

Surviving Christmas

I'm back.

Are you?

Did you have a great Christmas?

I did.
Santa was very good to me.

In fact, I'm typing on my new laptop he gave me right now. He also got me a bunch of other things too.

I think he's kinda cute too. He looks alot like my hubby and I'm allowed to kiss him too.

We survived Christmas and even Mother Nature gave us a nice present. She didn't bring us our big snow storm until Christmas evening, after all our visits were done and we were tucked away in our home.

We awoke to this.

And this.

I guess some people like a white Christmas.

I do when I don't have to drive in it.

I promise that I won't post anymore snow photos-at least for awhile.

Now that all the presents are opened, I can relax. Emily got that Nintendo DS she wanted and Jordon got a crap load of video games. Jessica's favorite present was the thingy-job that allows her to get digital TV and Zach was just happy to be able to rip things open.

I had the hubby fooled big time this Christmas. I had him thinking that his present wasn't coming until Christmas morning. He was all worried. He was all freaking out. He just KNEW that nobody delivers on Christmas day and he wasn't getting anything. Poor thing. Little did he know, I had his new four thousand feet long keyboard hidden in my son's closet.

I'm so bad, I'm good.

But, what have I done?

Now, I get to hear a husband try to learn how to play a keyboard all the time. I think that he'll be getting a nice pair of headphones for his birthday.

Now, I'm going to go put my new vacuum together that the hubby also got me.

Good thing he got me the laptop too or he'd be playing that keyboard in the garage.

It's here!!!!

Just saying Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends!

Thanks to a wonderful year with you!

How many days til Christmas?

Is it Christmas yet?

Please say it's so. I'm not trying to turn into the Grinch, but I'm ready for Christmas to be here because...

I'm ready to take down the tree that's been up since Thanksgiving.

I'm ready to get my living room back and be able to use the dvd player without moving twenty presents to get to it.

I'm done using "Santa won't bring you any presents if..."

I'm tired of emptying the bank account by buying present after present.

I'm ready to find out what that special present that the hubby got me and hope it's not a new frying pan.

I'm done eating Christmas cookies and watching as my tummy starts to hang over my jeans.

I'm ready to have a day off.

I'm done watching every Christmas movie possible-ok, that one's my fault.

And finally, I'm ready for Christmas to be over so I can have some much needed champagne on New Year's Eve!

So cute, I could just eat them up.

I've been kind of busy this holiday season with family photo sessions and baby photos and I got the cutest photos of kids that I just had to share.

These are the best behaved brother and sister you'll ever meet.

Would your kids get this close without ripping each other's heads off?

If you met this little guy, you would hide him in your purse and take him home.

He's a total thumb sucker.

And then he stuck his tongue out at me.

Little booger.

Hey, do you miss this little guy?

Haven't posted pictures of him for awhile, but he's still around.

He's my little snuggle buddy.

Just don't tell his jealous Aunt Emily-she'll change the locks and tell him we moved to Antarctica.

The man in the red suit.

Christmas is almost upon us. Part of me is glad and part of me is sad. I plan for the best presents and I take pride in seeing the expressions on the kids' and hubby's face when they open their presents Christmas morning. No socks and underwear from me. No way. No how. I've also been one to over spend, with presents stacking literally as tall as the tree. Something I started when my first born was just a toddler. Back then, it was just her and I and we had to get a three bedroom just so we could fit the rest of her toys-no lie.

These days, we've added five more people to our family and though the stack of presents are large, I can no longer fulfill my kids expectations of a zillion presents per child. So alas, it's makes me sad and guilty on Christmas day.

I don't think the other kids are too disappointed-at least they don't show it to me. But Emily, she scares me. She's put in her order months ago and expects everything that she asked for to be under the tree.

Have you met her? You would be scared too. Fortunately, she still believes in Santa and I feel sorry for that guy. Luckily, he's left the mall by Christmas so she won't be able to go there and kick him in the shin the day after.

I'm a bit worried though, because the other day we were talking about Santa not bringing her any presents if she didn't go clean her room. She started stomping her way to her room when she suddenly stopped and turned around. She squinted her eyes and twisted her lip and asked, "If Santa brings our presents, then why are they already under the tree AND I saw you wrapping some?"

I started to sweat. The thought of her knowing that I was Santa horrified me. This little girl can get mean when she wants to and I wasn't taking the blame for her not getting that Build-a-Bear gift card she wanted.

I quickly replied, "Because he is so busy with all the kids to deliver to, he asked me to help store some presents under our tree and he'd be here to stuff your stockings on Christmas morning."

I held my breath and nervously waited for her response. She cocked her right eyebrow and thought a moment. She finally grumbled, "Fine. I'll go clean my room."

After she left, I let out my breath and wiped my brow.

THAT was a close one.

Do not eat yellow snow

Ok, the snow is now here to stay. I'm ready to admit it and go on with my life.

I've been spending the whole week hybernating inside my house, wearing my Minnetonka boots and my heaviest sweaters. When it gets like this, I like to bake bread, rent movies and try to ignore that cold white stuff outside.

This weekend, I did end up going outside for a bit to get some snow shots. Don't you love icicles? I love them too-unless I'm trying to take a photo of them on a sunny day. My camera doesn't like them. She (yes, my cameras are girl cameras) kept saying, "No!" while I kept saying, "Yes! Yes, you can do this-just focus!" (ha, ha-get it? Just focus? I kill myself.)

I ended up getting this shot before my son came outside and slammed the door shut, and in the process, knocked all the icicles off the awning.

At least one good thing about all the snow is that we can now finally find our black chihuahua when she goes outside to do her thing-and know where she did it at.

I'm all out of contests now.

I'm sad to say that my last giveaway is over, but I'm glad to announce that we have a winner!

My friend, Random.org, picked me a number. That number was................8!

So, I counted down the list and came to this blogger:

mineola said...
Oh! They made Mama Lotion new again!!! Brilliant!!!!! I would also love to try the Kinerase C8 Peptide Intensive Treatment from SkinRX!

Yeah!!!!!

Please come claim your prize, fellow blogger and soon, you shall have smooth, lovely skin like mine. Everyone will want to touch your face. You'll start having seventeen year old bag boys asking you out. Men will flock to you. Ok, I'm done now.

Don't fret, you other bloggers, I just got contacted by another company that was interested in having me do another giveaway. So, now you must come back to my blog again and find out what it is. You poor thing, you. I make you do such horrible things just to get something free.

Hello, World? Are you out there?

Yesterday I was informed by my Internet provider that they were adding exciting and wonderful things to our email during the next couple of days. They said not to worry, our emails will not be lost in the process and will be sent asap during this magnificent transformation.

All I heard was DON'T WORRY, WE WILL BE HOLDING ONTO YOUR EMAILS FOR ETERNITY WHILE WE DO SOMETHING STUPID THAT YOU PROBABLY WON'T EVEN USE.

You see, I cannot live without my email and Internet. Not for one hour. Not for one day. When I first checked my email this morning, one little email snuck through. I knew this was wrong, for I usually get at least fifteen or more at the start of my day.

I could feel my throat tighten as I hit the send/receive button again, hoping for some Internet heaven miracle. Nothing. In fact, my email barked, "Do you really think that you are getting your email? Bahaaaaa!!!!"

Sure, this could only be a couple of days, but don't they realize that I may be dead by then? I need to fill out their complaint form, asking them the following:

How can I enjoy your fabulous newly serviced email system if I've gone mad, waiting for my email? Please forward my emails that you are holding for ransom to the bottom of the muddy Mississippi, where I will be after jumping off a bridge. Have a nice day.

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature

Ok, I didn't fool her, I called her a bad name. Now it's not only cold, it's SNOWING.

I shall keep my mouth shut from now on.

This is our first winter with Bella. I wasn't sure how she would act in the snow and I hoped that she wouldn't be like Mia (our Chihuahua). First sign of snow and she's all like, You really don't expect me to go out in that, do you???

It turns out, Bella is the opposite.

While I was shoveling out the driveway, she was running around like a kid on Christmas day. She was so excited, she didn't know what to do. In the process, I spent alot of time getting back up from her knocking me down in the snow. I feared if I stood still long enough, she was going to make a snowman out of me-or would that be a snow woman?


She still managed to play with her basketball.

When it was time to go in, she hung her head low and I swore she was pouting.

Kids can make you feel so guilty sometimes.

Cold hearted *&%

The temperatures dropped this weekend where I live, so of course I had to do an outdoor photo shoot. I felt sorry for the family as they tried not to shiver as they sat on the cold ground without jackets on. I tried to get it done as quickly as possible and I wondered as I took the photos, how I would get the "red nose reindeer" look out of them when I got home.

I ended up catching a cold from that photo shoot. Last night, I noticed the array of colors in the sky and decided to forgive Mother Nature for landing me in bed this weekend from her bitter mood.

CSN Store winner!

I wanted to announce the winner of the CSN Store giveaway. I can't believe I only got 10 comments. I'm sad. I'm pitiful. Oh well.

I used Random.org and the funniest thing happened. It picked #1!!

I've never seen that before. What are the odds of that? Too funny. Well, the first person to comment was:

Michelle from Eight Helping Hands!

Way to go, girl!! I will send your info to them and your chopper will be on it's way. Have fun with it like I am with mine. Chop those veggies up. Dice that apple. Slice that salad-ok. I am done.

Congrats!

One Touch Chopper Contest Ends Tommorrow!

Hey, everyone!
My CSN Stores contest ends tomorrow! Go vote-your mom wants one for Christmas.

Moody Food Review's Holiday Food Gift Guide

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm doing a Holiday Food Gift Guide over at my food review blog. I've searched far and wide (I've always wanted to say that) for unique and tasty treat ideas for that hard-to-buy for relative, friend or even the mailman-hey, he might actually close the mailbox lid if you give him something for his tummy!

Anyway, you can find the list here. I'm posting five ideas a day until I reach 25 ideas. Here's a sampling of some of my picks.

Idea #1

Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook ($16.95) Ok, this one isn't food, but it's food related!

My husband is getting me this book because he loves me-or maybe he doesn't want me to rip his head off if it's not under the tree Christmas morning.

Idea #3
27 Baby Witch Brownies Gift Tin from Fat Witch Bakery. (Retail: $45) Assorted Selection: 9 Fat Witch Babies, 9 Blonde Babies, 9 Walnut Babies.

I love, love, love these. You must try one of these before you die.

Idea #10
Balsamic Vinaigrette with Dark Chocolate from Ravenous Chocolate Vinaigrettes (8oz bottle $5.50)

Ok, I have to end my Christmas gift ideas for the day with something that containsed chocolate. Have you ever heard of this before? What a cool idea and you can use it on salads, as a marinade, and even over Ice Cream. Something you can put on your salad AND your mint chocolate chip ice cream? These people should be given the Nobel Peace Prize for making such a product. Santa, please put a bottle under the tree this year.

So go check out my other ideas and please keep checking back cause, well, my mom said you had to or else! ;)

Survival of the Fittest

I can now add another notch on my belt, surviving another Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey passed the test and I think this may indeed be the only dish I can cook to perfection. Since the turkey went so well, I was hoping to be forgiven for the burnt pumpkin pie that followed. I've decided that next year's pie will come ready made from Village Inn. Then, my dinner will be perfect and I will win Betty Crocker's Best Thanksgiving Dinner Award. Amen.

Everyone left earlier then usual, for my brother and daughter had to work in the wee hours of the morning, so I was able to get to bed at a fairly decent time to get some sleep before getting up early for our traditional JCPenney's Christmas globe.

Every year, that darn company opens an hour earlier then the year before. This year, it was four a.m. Don't they realize that I am not a morning person and to make me half to get up at the crack of dawn is like pulling out my wisdom teeth without Novocaine? I will definitely be writing them a nasty letter letting them know how we must get these globes every year because we've been doing it for ten years now and could they PLEASE be nice and not open so early?

We made it though, loaded up on coffee with my kidneys threatening to bring on a very large kidney stone if I drank anymore caffeine. Afterwards, we headed off to Target to try to score some door buster deals-door buster? They should call it ball crushing, leg pulling, face smashing deals, cause that's what it looked like to me.

I've never had the chance to be at a store at opening time on Black Friday. It was crazy. They were lined up like hungry tigers that hadn't been fed for a week and the zoo keeper was at the front of the line, holding up one big juicy New York steak on a fork. Then, they opened the doors and said, "Come and get it."

In about five minutes time, the movies were gone, the electronics were snatched, the appliances were dropped in carts and the lines to check out started forming. It was a nightmare. Everywhere you went, a check out line appeared out of thin air and continued all the way to the back of the store. I looked at my one item in my cart-the one thing that I was lucky to get, and wondered if saving money was worth it.

We (my mom, sister, Emily and I) decided to go wait over at their Starbucks area and get some drinks and wait it out. After about a half an hour, the lines were only getting worse, so we decided to just get it over with. My sister had spotted a new checkout area that wasn't long, so we ran over to see if we'd get lucky. No such luck. Apparently, news travels fast when it comes to mad shoppers. We still waited about an hour to checkout and I tell ya, when you have alot of time on your hands, you have to get creative to keep your sanity. I casually leaned towards the people in front of me and listened to their conversation-I'm bad, I know. Oh also, I mentally counted how many times the lady behind me could hit her cart into mine every time we moved.

I finally made it up to the counter and the smiling checkout guy (who deserves a medal for keeping his upbeat mood) checked out my item and wished me a happy holiday. We were off to try to go to Walmart, but before we left, we got wind that the Walmart across town wasn't very busy, so we rushed-wait, I have to laugh my butt off first after saying "rushed"- I meant to say, after crawling through traffic, we got across town and had better luck with their deals. I think about this time, I was starting to feel the effects of no sleep and hoped that I didn't pass out on the store floor, for I was sure that the shoppers would not notice and I would go home with foot prints plastered on my forehead.

We ended up at one last store and I found a very cute holiday dress for Emily for a great deal and after a tiny bit of protest from my mom over the color, I won, and now Emily will be paying the price this holiday for my love of the color black.

Before my sister headed off, she gave me a special surprise-a pair of Minnetonka boots that she bought and decided she didn't want them.

Now, I've never heard of them before and I also didn't know that these babies run about one hundred and fifty bucks. You see, since becoming a mom, I don't pay over twenty for any clothes or shoes for myself-Wait, I've probably never paid a hundred bucks for ANY shoes EVER.

Ahhh, sometimes it would be nice to live my sister's no-children-unless-you-consider-their-dog-a-child life. Not really, kids, I love you and that's the story I'm sticking to.

Anyway, expensive never felt so good and I have found heaven for my feet. I will love them and kiss them and never let a drop of bad weather touch them. Ok, maybe I will only be able to wear them in the house. Thanks sis, for giving me a taste of the "spoiled" life.

No Charlie Brown Christmas tree this year

The hubby surprised me this year with a new Christmas tree. If you remember from last year, we had a tiny, Charlie Brown looking one. The new tree is one of those that have the lights connected to it, so you don't have to drag the tangled lights out of the garage and hope to find the one that doesn't work and curse until you end up throwing them out the window.

This kind of tree is also awesome in the sense that it comes in three pieces that fold up like an umbrella, which will be nice for storage since I've gone through about ten trees after loosing branches or the color coded wires were no longer color coded and you end up with a Picasso looking tree trying to match them all up.

We voted on the colors for decorations-have I ever told you that I have a thing about having properly color coordinated Christmas trees? Yes, it is a sickness-one that drives my son absolutely CRAZY. He insists that Christmas tree decorations must be mismatched, with handmade decorations brought home from school and the more mismatched, the better. He must of done something horrible in a past life to be stuck with a mom like me.

This year, I gave the kids and hubby color combination choices; red, brown and green, red and green, or neon multicolored-I thought I was bending a bit for him on that one.

He didn't like the whole "neon" look, so he voted on the first choice. I was happy since I really wanted a brown theme this year. So, we decorated the tree in our official themed colors and I thought it turned out well.

I love it when we get to put the tree up, because I get to take bokeh photos. For those of you who don't know what that is, this definition is taken from PW's site:

Bokeh, which is pronounced bow-kay or bow-keh, refers to the wonderful out-of-focus light and shapes and colors you find in the background of many photos taken with a digital camera.

Here are some photos to show you what I came up with.

Ooh, the brown bulbs are so pretty.

And here is what happens when your five year old helps.

You don't know how badly I want to move those two bulbs that are touching. I won't though, in the spirit of Christmas.

I hope this lands me an extra present under the tree this year.

From our family to yours

Christmas early-another giveaway!

Boy, has this been a week!

First, I get to do a review and giveaway for CSN Stores and now, I get to do a review for SkinCareRX!

You are going to wonder who I've been sleeping with to get so lucky.

I've been looking for a moisturizer and facial cleanser for some time now and I haven't had much luck. Either they are too greasy, not greasy enough or it made me break out.

When SkinCareRX contacted me to try out their M2 Collection Bundle, I was sceptical but I decided to give it a try. With the holidays coming, I really was desperate.

M2 Collection Bundle

The Bundle includes M2 Exfoliating Cleanser (6.76 fl. oz.), M2 Skin Refinish 20%(1.7 fl. oz.), and M2 Skin Recovery Moisturizer (1.7 fl. oz.).

I tried this trio for a week and I tell ya, my face ended up being baby butt smooth!

Now, as always, I told them that I would only try these products if I could give one of my wonderful and awesome readers a package too (Christmas is coming, so I need some brownie points ;) )

They said, OK!

So, now one of you lucky dogs will receive a M2 Collection Bundle too!

Retail value:

($92.51)

Now it's your turn.

To enter, you need to comment and tell me what other product from SkinCareRX you would love Santa to bring you this Christmas.

If you feel you need more luck, you can get more entries by following me (please leave a separate comment telling me so)

You can tweet about it (ditto on the commenting )

You can post about it-send me the link please in your comment (leave me 3 more comments)

Ok, that's it. Now, go win this contest, baby!

Getting ready for Turkey Day

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, I've been running around, trying to get things together. I have most of my supplies for the big dinner, but I still need to get the table cloth, plates and utensils. I also have to do the heavy duty cleaning yet, so I may give the illusion that I have a perfect house.
It's been hard to fit the holidays in this year with all the projects I've given myself. I've had to let a project go, due to technical difficulties-meaning, I ran into some snags along the way. That project would be the magazine. It was a hard decision to make and I might be able to start it back up next year. I'm sad about it, but it may be for the best.
We went shopping on Saturday because I like to torture myself like that. I had some major coupon savings and they were all going to expire after Saturday. So, we rushed around to buy for the relatives that you just don't know what to get. Boy, was that fun. I did happen to finish shopping for one of the kids and that's such an accomplishment in it's self. I did the "high-five" with the kids and they just walked away, mumbling something about not knowing me or something like that.
Then, I spent Sunday wrapping presents and seeing what I still needed to get. Of course, Emily who is always with me, seemed to accumulated the most presents so far. I figured that she'd be so excited when she saw them sitting under the tree. I ran and got her and brought her over to the tree and went, ta-da!!
She looked at the pile and said, "Cool."
Cool? That's all I get? I was like, don't you see all the presents? She was like, that's neat. Can I go play again?
I tell ya. Youth is wasted on the young...

The secret is out-and a contest!

Do you remember my teaser post about reviewing something from csn.stores?

Did you take a guess?

Well, I'm ready to tell you what is was!

I got to review this:

Black & Decker One Touch Chopper

Let me tell you, if you've never tried a food chopper, you've got try one. I've always wanted to get one, but it's been one of those things that you say that you're-going-to-buy-one-because-it-would-make-your-life-so-much-easier-but-you-don't.

I've been in heaven since I've been using this marvelous appliance.

What perfect timing for this puppy, with Thanksgiving coming. I have all sorts of ideas to use it for like, salsa for the appetizers and making a salad mix.

This chopper has a one-touch button and the blade cuts with ease and is super easy to clean.

It's compact size makes it great for storage and I don't know about you, but I don't have much room in my kitchen.

Now, here is the fun part:

One lucky winner gets one too!

That's right! csn stores want you to have one too!

It's really easy to enter, so you know you want to.

Just go visit one of their websites at:

csn stores.com

Then, tell me what you would buy from them if they were running a great sale.

Want another entry?

Follow me-I like it when people follow me.

Want another chance?

Tweet about it, then come back and leave another comment.

Can't wait to get something from them?

Well, they are running a holiday sale on just about everything there!

Check out their counter stools too! I wish I had a breakfast nook to use stool for-hmm, the possibilties...

They also have free shipping on just about everything too!

Contest ends:

Dec 5th

Happy Birthday Emily

Dear Emily,

Five years ago, today, I was given a wonderful gift-you.

I can't believe that you are five now-how time has flown by! You have grown so much and are more beautiful each day. I can remember back when you were a baby and we wondered if your hair was ever going to grow-now, I curse it every day, when we have a ton of tangles to deal with when you wake up in the morning!

You keep me on my toes and I'm always amazed at what comes out of your mouth. You are a very beautiful, head strong and bossy little girl that everyone loves. We get stopped all the time by strangers who tell us how pretty you are. You've heard it so much, that it doesn't even phase you (I feel so sorry for the boys when you get older.)

This year was another adventurous one with you being a finalist in Hallmark's Mother's Day Card Contest. Boy, if that didn't make your head swell. You were treated like a celebrity in our city. You were on tv, in the paper and on the radio. Of course, everyone thought you were so sweet.

We got second place, which wasn't bad and we had fun. Now, your card is going to be a birthday card too, which is really cool!

Now with you turning five, you get to go to school next fall. This is a task that you aren't sure about yet, nor are you sure about not calling for mommy in the middle of the night because you are scared of the dark.

So, once again, we got to throw a dozen parties since you are so special and you made me have to bake-something I really don't do well, but the cupcakes must not of been too bad, because everyone ate them.

I hope you have a great birthday and make sure you are nice to grandma, since it's her birthday too!

Love,

Mama

No respect

Jordon: "Mom! Where are my school books?!"
Me: "Did you put them in your room like I always tell you?"
Jordon: "No."
Me: "Then, I probably put them somewhere when I cleaned."
Jordon: "This is why I don't like you to touch my stuff!"
Me: Grrrrr....

......

Hubby: "Tess! Where's my ipod cord?"
Me: "Did you pick it up off of the couch cushion like I told you?"
Hubby: "No."
Me: "Then, I probably put it somewhere when I cleaned."
Hubby: "This is why I don't like you to touch my stuff!"
Me: Grrrr...

......

Jess: "Mom! Where's my jacket I left over here?"
Me: "Did you hang it up like I told you to?"
Jess: "No."
Me: "Then I probably put it somewhere when I cleaned."
Jess: "This is why I don't like you to touch my stuff!"
Me: Grrrr...

.....


Emily: "Mom! Where's my new player I got from Grandma?"
Me: "Did you put it in your purse like I told you?"
Emily: "No."
Me: "Then I probably put it somewhere when I cleaned."
Emily: "This is why I don't like you to touch my stuff!"
Hubby: (Just laughing from the other room)
Me: "It's so nice that everyone is teaching the five year old such good habits."

Time for some birthday parties-again.

You are probably wondering what the heck is going on with me. I mean, I actually posted several days in a row.You may be wondering, Are you ok? What happened?

I'm actually fine, thank you. Well, other than not winning that damn photo book contest. (I will forgive you some day, PW) I found this new burst of energy and I went with it. I think I may even think of some new ideas to spruce up my little blog.

In the mean time, I have yet another task to accomplish-no, I'm not starting ANOTHER business or book (ok, that one's a lie) or trying to become the next President-nothing like that. It's that time of the year when Emily becomes a year older, which means that I have to plan three parties. Why? If you remember from last year, she shares the same birthday as my mom and well, because it's Emily.

Though her birthday isn't until November 17th, our first party will be tonight. This one is for the grandparents and a few aunts and uncles. We will then have the other two on her birthday, one for her friends and one for her and my mom.

She's been running around all week, excited about the party tonight and telling everyone that TODAY is going to be her birthday. I of course, have to correct her and tell her that next week is her birthday and have resorted to threaten to take her other two parties away since, well, TODAY is her birthday.

Yesterday, she asked if I would sing 'Happy Birthday' to her this morning. I told her I would sing 'Happy Friday the 13th' instead.

So, I've been baking cupcakes (not very well, if I may say) finding just the right Strawberry Shortcake decorations, and cleaning house. I didn't even ask for help from anyone else because that would be a total waste of my time and I'd probably drop dead from a heart attack if anyone actually did help.

Stuffed Turkey Dog

Do you remember these two gals?

They were supposed to leave the nest with their mama when she got her own place. We came so close. She had an apartment that she was going to rent that allowed dogs. Then, she didn't. Then she did. Then, she didn't. I was getting dizzy sending them out the door and bringing them back in.

Well, turns out that the one she ended up having to get doesn't even allow gold fish, let alone dogs-seriously. I would NOT nominate that landlord for pet lover of the year.

So, here we go again. The "kids" are back and apparently staying for awhile. It was either that, or her putting an ad in the paper and the rest of the family hating me forever.

Why are moms put in such positions?

I've decided that I'm ok with it on one condition; Bella gets a professional bath and we hang an air freshener around her neck. I did find out that Petco is having a special orange-cranberry spa with a free "fall" charm for their collar. Do I want my dog to smell like a Thanksgiving dish?

Hmm-this might work.

I love getting things in the mail.

One of the perks of blogging is being able to review products that you might not be able to otherwise.

I was contacted by the company, csnstores.com and they asked if I would like to review one of their products. I said sure! This company sells a broad range of products from housewares to even counter stools!

What product do I get to review? I'm not going to tell you.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??

That's right. You have to keep checking back to find out what I picked to review.

Want to guess? Give it a try. Oh, and I have a special surprise too for one lucky reader, so you better come back and find out!

I love fall-really

I love taking pictures of fall...

The leaves are so beautiful when they change colors...

It makes me want Thanksgiving to come and it makes me want to bake cookies and cakes...

Now, if I could only hold that mood while I'm raking twenty thousand bags worth of them from my front yard...

I could use another camera

I've been working hard on my book but decided to take a break to do something fun. I found out that Pioneer Woman is having a contest under her photography section. I always try to win those darn contests. Most are randomly picked and I must not have good luck, cause I never win.

This contest though, is a judging contest on the best photo book-I might have a chance! It's being sponsored by Shutterfly and if she likes your photobook, you win fun things. I entered it and even if I don't win, I think I like my book enough to order it anyway-but shhh, don't tell her that!

Here are some of my photo book pages.

The cover.

The title page.

I thought this was cute.

Had to end with this one.

You should go enter too.

Here is the link:

http://pioneerwomanfaces.shutterfly.com/#n_22

Try to win yourself a camera. Then, let me borrow it.

Now I must stop typing so I can cross my fingers and hope I win!