Everyone Loves Free Stuff

The wonderful folks over at CSN stores recently contacted me about doing a giveaway on my blog.  They have over 200 different stores selling everything from tv tables to bathroom sinks.

I really got excited about getting some free cookware from their cookware site, but the Le Creuset skillet I was hoping for costs a little more than the $35 they are going to give me.

So, you my loyal readers luck out.
I'll be spending the $35 on six of my second favorite item on their site, this bunny mug.

I'm keeping one for myself, and giving the other five away.

To enter all you need to do is leave a comment and make sure that you leave your email if I am not going to be able to find it in 2 clicks or less.

I'm also giving an extra entry to anyone who leaves a comment
AND was following me before this post went live.

If for some reason the bunny mug is going to be inappropriate for your workplace, feel free to peruse any of CSN's other 200 stores and tell me what you'd rather have as long as it costs the same or less than the bunny mug.

Winners will be picked at random on December 7th.

************ Contest Is Closed *****************************

I'm Kind Of A Big Deal

You know when bloggers write about the bad PR pitches they receive?

I always thought, I'll know when I'm a big deal blogger when I get bad PR pitches too.

So a few days ago I get this email,

asking ME if I'd be interested in doing a review/giveaway.

Unlike some of the offers I've heard other bloggers laugh at, this seemed well written (enough), 

and didn't ask me to whore myself out while getting nothing in return.

Of course, they didn't address me by name, 

but they didn't screw up my name either, so I'll call that even.

I checked out their website with minimal expectations and immediately saw that they carry a brand of cookware that I've lusted over for years, but this is what happened when I considered buying a piece of it once.

Me (to hubby):  "While I was out shopping today I saw this awesome skillet, 

I almost bought it, but thought I should run it by you."

Hubby:  "Why?"

Me:  " It was $70"

Him:  "It's a good thing you didn't buy it then, 

I would have had to hit you upside the head with it."

Me:  "That would have hurt.  It was cast iron."

I emailed them back and said "Sure, I'd love to receive two of these skillets.  

One for me and one to giveaway to one of my 19 many followers." 

I don't know for sure if this is how it works, but it sure as heck is how I want it to work, 

so I decided to put it out there.  The worst they could say is no, right? 

I'm pretty sure at some point they will figure out that I am not, in fact, the big deal they thought I was, and rescind their offer to give me free stuff.  In the meantime I'll dream, and maybe if each of you goes and finds a few friends to come follow me before they come to check me out further, we'll actually get these frying pans.  

Hint Hint.

After replying to them with my wishes, I went back to close the window to their online store, 

but got distracted by a coffee mug with what appeared to be rabbits on it, 

doing that thing that rabbits are famous for.  

I clicked on it, and what would you know, it was a coffee mug, with rabbits, making rabbits.  

In. Multiple. Positions.  

Like I'm pretty sure it was the bunny Kama Sutra on a coffee mug.  

BUT THEN, once I was actually looking at the mug with the fornicating rabbits on it, 

it suggested that people that liked that item also viewed....  

the coffee mug with the bears, 

or the one with the penguins, 

or elephants, 

all of them in the throes of passion.  

Well except maybe the bears, 

they kinda looked like they were trying to bite each other's faces off. 

Then I was pissed at myself for not looking a little longer before agreeing to write sponsored content for a frying pan when I could have had the bunny porn mug!  I've decided that if they turn me down for the skillet, telling me that a blog with only nineteen followers isn't worthy of a $70 skillet, I'm going to ask again for the mug.  

It's only $5.99.

6 Days

Six days ago my youngest came home from school and passed out on the couch.
I knew without looking at her that she was sick.
A mom knows.

My hubby came home that night and kept complaining that it was too cold
in the 70 degree house.
He was sick too.
This was going to be fun.

Five days ago my hubby insisted he needed to go to the doctor.
I told him he was wasting his time and a copay.
He still wanted to go.
Okey Dokey.

I called and made him an appointment.
Because I'm the mom and know who the doctor is.
As I expected the doctor told him to take Alka Selzer Plus and plenty of fluids
and to return Monday if he wasn't better.
I saved a copay on the kid.

My hubby always tells me I'm not a doctor,
but I've taken my kids to the doctor enough times to know when the symptoms are going to warrant the trip and be worth the chance we pick up something more fun.

Then the fever and lethargy spawned a nice cough.

The weekend came and my facebook status read
"My house sounds like the seal exhibit at the zoo".
One of my friends commented "dead sardines all over the place?"
I have funny friends.

By Monday the fevers were better, but the coughs were worse.
My husband did not return to the doctor.
I thought he must be feeling better.
Apparently he was just enjoying being miserable too much.

I finally took my little one to the doctor yesterday, she got an inhaler and antibiotics,
since after 5 days she still had a low grade fever.
Hubby couldn't get in yesterday so he goes back today and I'm sure he'll get the same thing.

It's a good thing too.
Because it's kinda sad that my 9 year old is handling being sick better than her daddy.
And I haven't gotten anything done that I wanted to do in a week.

Random Musings On Being A Grown Up

My drivers license says I've been a adult two times over, but so far I suck at being a grown up.

I still shop in the juniors section, because I refuse to wear the jeans that cover my belly button,
and there is no in between.  It's either the juniors section or the grandma section.
WTF?  Where is the hip 30 something year old section?

I've been drinking coffee for 20 something years, if you consider a grande white mocha a coffee.
I know it's more like a hot chocolate with a little coffee thrown in.
I didn't own or know how to operate a coffee maker until 2 years ago.
My coffee to creamer ratio is 2:1.

I have a collection of about 50 shot glasses but my wine glasses are plastic.
Up until recently my favorite wine was Boone's Farm Sangria.
Lately I've been trying different wines (with corked bottles) and enjoying them.
Hoping Santa brings me real glass wine glasses.

My favorite time of day is nap time and I get cranky if I don't get one.

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I "grow up".
Right now am leaning towards artist.
I wouldn't have to worry about that whole starving part, because my hubby works.

The Irony Is Not Lost On Me

So almost a month (gasp) ago I told you guys all about my entryway and why I live in constant fear that someone will come to my door and see the mess and clutter.  I vowed to do something about it.  I was a girl on a mission. I had all these fabulous ideas in my head and I was going to tackle that entryway.

Yeah.  About that.

A lack of money, procrastination, and other life obligations kinda got in the way of that.

I did pick up some scrapbook paper and Mod Podge to spruce up the shoe thingie.  The actual Mod Podging has not commenced however.

The dog crate problem was partially solved, at least in my head anyway, when I found this article on how to hide a dog crate.  Amazing what searching Google for "how to hide a dog crate" will find you.  The remaining problem is for me to A) get the table, and B) figure out how to keep the dogs from being able to reach the fabric.  They kinda like to pull any fabric they can snag with their claws into their crate and shred it.  This might not work well if I have something pretty sitting on top of the table.  So there is some sort of crate retrofit in order if this is going to work.  Once again it just takes money.

The one issue I did manage to solve was what to do with all the hats, gloves, etc. that were overflowing in a  too small plastic tote on top of the shoe thing.

Yes, my friends, that is an over the door shoe rack holding all the hats, gloves, and scarves.  It is not, but is remarkably similar to, the over the door shoe rack some of you might remember me ranting about way back in December of 2008.  Now just so you know, THAT shoe rack was given to me in December of 2005 and even though I had no use for it, I held on to it (because it was a gift and hoping I'd find something I could use it for).  I finally gave up and put it in a garage sale this past January  so I would have less to move to Michigan, and now, just as I lamented about in this post, as soon as I got rid of it, I needed it.  Grr.

This past weekend I went to the store and spent $12.99 on this over the door shoe rack.  I came home and put it on the door.  I put all the hats and what not in it.  I proudly showed the hubby what I had done.

Hubby: "What is that?"
Me:  "That would be my mad home organizational skillz"
Hubby:  "And what EXACTLY did you USE to achieve this organization?"
Me: "an over the door shoe rack?"
Hubby:  "A what???"
Me:  "An over the door shoe rack"
Hubby: "You'd better not let your mom see that"
Me:  "I know"

Homemade Christmas

As I've been exercising my creative muscles this past month, the kids have wanted to play too.  Every time I pull out the craft supplies, they are right there saying "Can I make something?".  That gave me an idea.  They are old enough now, 14, 12, and 9 to really start thinking about Christmas in terms of giving rather than receiving.  So I told them that this year, I want them to make presents for each other, grandmas, and mom and dad.  I gave them a week to plan what they want to make and took them shopping at the craft store this weekend.  They came up with some really good ideas.  It will be interesting to see how they turn out.  I won't post any pics until the gifts are given, but look for them in a future post.

Bunch of Ingrates

Again I found inspiration over at Tip Junkie.

A few days ago Laurie posted 20 Thanksgiving Crafts To Make.  I loved the concept behind crafts 1 - 4, to decorate for Thanksgiving with something that would cause the kids, and the hubby and I, to think about what we are grateful for.  Sometimes I think we all get so caught up wanting things we don't have (and don't need) that we forget to take stock of our blessings.

A trip to JoAnn's last night and a trip to the Salvation Army store this morning
yielded the items needed to make my board.

I worked on it for hours.  Mostly because the chipboard letters were on the smallish
side and I wanted to Mod Podge them with fall scrapbook paper.
Tracing and cutting out all the letters took forever.

I finally finished it and invited the kids to come write what they were thankful for.

Tiffany is thankful for her family, shelter, and bananas.

Kimberly is thankful for mommy and daddy's love & yummy muffins.

Aimee is thankful for all the wonderful people that I love and all the love we share.

They drew some interesting pictures too.

After I took this picture the hubby came over and added that he was thankful for whoopie cushions and added to the art fest with a drawing of a dude wearing sunglasses.

I think they are missing the point.

Or they are mocking me.

Either way I'm really proud of my board.

Halloween Craftiness

Today is Halloween and this past week I had the chance to use my creativity to make some treats for Tiffany's classroom and decorations for my front porch.  

I was so excited that Tiffany's class was having a Halloween party, she was getting to wear her costume at school, and the whole school was having a costume parade.  After living in Arizona for the last six years, where every holiday was either completely ignored by the school (like Halloween) or rendered completely non offensive (like the winter party and winter concert that didn't have any holiday songs or references to the fact that anybody might celebrate anything in the upcoming weeks of December), it was nice to be in a place where the kids can just have fun being kids and enjoy dressing up and eating candy.  I decided that to celebrate, I needed to make awesome treats for her class party.  The fact that I could make awesome treats was special too.  Arizona only allowed store bought treats to be brought to school, BOO.  I decided I really wanted to learn to play with chocolate, so I went to Michael's, bought candy melts, sticks, sprinkles, and lollipop bags, then hit up the store for some marshmallows, and made these.

They came out great.  I was a little surprised by the thickness of the candy melts.  I had envisioned drizzling the orange across the white, but there was no drizzling going on.  I took a break and Google'd chocolate covered marshmallows and Wilton candy melts and found that most people recommended a dip and spin along the edge of the bowl to remove the excess technique.  Realizing that drizzling wasn't going to be an option, I gave up trying that and just did some white with sprinkles, some orange with sprinkles, and some white and then dipped partially in orange.  They came out amazing and her class loved them.  

Then, while surfing in blog land last week I came across a super easy craft using milk jugs, and I forgot where I found it, so unfortunately can't link to it, but since that person mentioned seeing the craft on Family Fun, I know it's not an original.  The whole craft only cost me 29 cents since I had the rest of the materials already in my stash and only had to buy one piece of green felt..  I used 3 milk jugs, one strand of orange lights, three pipe cleaners, a sharpie marker, and one piece of green felt, and this is what I came up with.

Pretty cute huh?

Tiffany made the albino spider while I was busy making these 

so he needed to be in the picture too.

Have a Happy Halloween!!

Not A Prude

Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm not a prude. 

 I know how to have a good time, but this.... 

SERIOUSLY.DISTURBS.ME.

Those are not the costumes I was considering for myself this year.

Those are the TWEEN costumes my TWELVE YEAR OLD had to choose from this year.  

Really???  Thank you so much for including those SEE THROUGH TIGHTS with that ADULT costume that isn't more than a freaking TUBE TOP!!  That so makes this more appropriate for my child that is just barely beginning to notice boys.  Way to tell her that slutting it up is the way to get their attention.  

OH.  And they wanted $35 - $40 for that crap! 

 Break my wallet and turn my kid into a hooker at the same time.  

I refused.  We ended up with this, a Geisha costume.

CRAP!

My twelve year old is dressing as a hooker for Halloween!  

OH WELL, at least she's going to be a COVERED UP hooker.  

(yes, I know, Geisha weren't really hookers, the Orian were the hookers)

Oh yeah, and this covered up costume...  $14.99.

Sweet!

But next year, I'm boycotting store bought costumes.  

Like it or not, my kids and I will all be dressing like this next Halloween.

I'm just disappointed that I didn't find all these great homemade costume ideas from

 Disney's Family Fun until after I had wasted two days driving all over town

 trying to find prude costumes for my kids.

Giving credit where credit is due

After writing yesterday's post, I realized that I may have exaggerated ever so slightly about the fact that my husband claims he can build stuff and yet has only ever built me a mantel.  The mantel was part of a complete living room remodel.  I've got some pictures, but you're going to have to use your imagination for some of this story.  Unfortunately I wasn't so good about capturing this whole process on film.

This is what we started with.  A cute little house that we rented for three years before we purchased.  See those two floor to ceiling windows in the front.  Yeah, I hated them.  My couch backed up to them so I could never open the blinds without showing the neighborhood the back of my couch.  Plus they were drafty.  For three years I said, "If this were my house, I'd take those windows out and put in one (dual paned) window that doesn't go all the way to the floor"

Three days after we closed escrow on the house, the neighbors were invited over, beer was purchased and within a few hours those windows were gone, and in their place was a beautiful eight foot wide by four foot high dual paned window set inside brand new framing.

Now we needed to put up new drywall, texture, and paint,  

but we couldn't do that to just this wall,

 it wouldn't match with all the others in the room if we did.  

The entire room and adjoining hallway were re-textured and painted.  

By my hubby.

We said goodbye to the 1970's style popcorn ceiling too, courtesy of my hubby.

Then he brought the room into a more modern age by installing recessed lighting, 

a ceiling fan, and crown moulding.  You can kinda see part of the fan and one

 recessed light in the picture above.

He had never done stucco before, so he called a friend that had, and the outside got finished too.

Here's a picture I took before the final color coat of stucco went on.  

Somehow I never got a picture of the end result.

I found this picture from the following Halloween where you can see just a smidge of

 the decorative moulding and ledge that the hubby built around the new window.

Then there was that mantel that I referred to yesterday.  

Here is it's before picture.

This was the crappiest mantel ever, and another thing that I had said for three years 

I would fix if it were my house.  It was made out of 4 x 4's for the pieces that surround the 

brick and then sitting on top of that were two warped 1 x 4's.  Anything I tried to set on top

 would tip over either because of the warped condition of the boards or the gap between

 them that ran the length of the mantel.

Utterly useless.

I personally got to use a sledgehammer and a crowbar to remove this.  

Oh my was that fun.

I sketched out what I wanted the mantel to look like and my hubby built it for me.

It was perfect and looked just like my sketch.

Do you think I got a picture of it?

Sort of?

Here is a picture from the following Christmas.  You can see a corner of it.

The last step in the remodel was ripping out the old grey carpet and installing laminate

 flooring in the whole house.  As soon as the hubby did that, we decided to sell the house 

and move to Arizona.  I never got any pictures of the laminate floors.

Thinking about all this reminds me of how much more fun it is to live in an old house.  

I like to build stuff.  

And break stuff with sledgehammers. 

 I need another old house. 

And some wood.

And a new saw for the hubby.