Saturday, November 30, 2013

My Favorite Things Saturdays 11/30


Every Saturday I like to wrap up my week with some of My Favorite Things. This week:

    This week's giveaway: 

    Posts you may have missed this week:
    My Guest Posts this week:


    My favorites from around the web:



    Flower Pot Soldier
    How to make a Tiny Bow
    25 Gifts to Make for Men


    Featured from last weeks LinkUp:

    http://www.theprincessandhercowboys.com/2013/11/guest-post-pumpkin-pie-popcorn.html
    Pumpkin Pie Popcorn 
    (Yes, It's a guest post I did, but no one signed up last week!)

    This week's LinkUp:
    Don't forget to sign up for your weekly reminder e-mail Here!



    Friday, November 29, 2013

    6 Weeks of Cookies Challenge: Boiled Cookies





    I am joining Allison over at Go Dansker Mom for a 6 week challenge of cookie making.Just like Allison, I have a habit of waiting till a week before Christmas to bake cookies and then we end up with way too many to eat or even give away. So I asked Allison if I could jump on board and join her.



    With Thanksgiving this week I was already doing a lot of cooking and baking. So I needed some simple, easy, quick cookies I had made before. I opted for one of my favorite recipes I inherited from my grandmother: Boiled Cookies.  To the right is a picture of the original recipe written on an index card in my grandmother's handwriting with my aunt's name on it. You can see by the stains that it's been used a few times ;)



    2 Cups Sugar
    1 Stick Margarine (tub butter will not work!)
    1/2 Cup Milk
    4 T. Cocoa
    2 1/2 Cups Quick-cook oatmeal (Not instant)
    2 tsp. Vanilla
    1/2 Cup Peanut butter
    1. Put Sugar, Margarine, Milk, and Cocoa in a large sauce pan and bring to a boil.

    2. Boil for 1 1/2 min to 2 min.

    3. Remove from heat. Add Oatmeal, Vanilla, and Peanut butter. Stir well.

    4. Drop by the spoonful onto wax paper.


    5. Leave to cool and harden. Can take up to an hour depending on size of cookies.

    6. Remove from wax paper and enjoy!


    This recipe is a childhood favorite of mine and I now share with my kids.  Bubee actually helped me make this batch. The cookies end up being like a mix between oatmeal cookies and fudge. If you're going to store or transport these make sure to put a piece of wax paper between each layer or they will stick to each other.

    Like this idea? Pin it!!




    Want to join us? Head on over to Go Dansker Mom!

    What's your childhood favorite recipe?


    Review and Giveaway: Python Printable Christmas Games



    Let the Christmas Season begin!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. To kick of the Christmas season I want to share a wonderful resource for all your Christmas party plans or just for a fun family game night.

    Python Printable Games has a wonderful Christmas party pack for all ages: from 1 to 92! When I first opened the files I was expecting a lot of things that you would find in a kid's activity book (coloring pages and mazes). What I found was so much more: trivia, paper dolls, mazes, card games, scavenger hunts,  mad-lib, newlywed games, board games and even gift swapping games (like "Left-Right" and  "The Great Gift Grab"). There is no excuse to be bored this Christmas season at ANY party!



     
    Bubee enjoyed solving the mazes. I even printed out one of the coloring sheets for Little Lady. Rosey Posey on the other hand enjoyed using the mad-libs and getting all the family members' version of the story. I liked keeping a copy of some of the trivia sheets in my purse to use with the kids when waiting in those shopping lines this past week.







    Check out their site: http://www.python-printable-games.com/printable-christmas-games.html for a list of everything included and some of their other party packs.

    And to kick off the Christmas season I am pleased to announce I am offering a Miracle on 34th Street Blu-Ray OR DVD for this week's giveaway!! Contest ends next Thursday.



    We received the printable in return for our review. No other compensation was received, and all opinions are our own. I provided the DVD prize on my own. I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

    Thursday, November 28, 2013

    My Thankful List for 2013

    Looking back over 2013 I feel very blessed for many things, people and events. Here's some of my tops:

    I'm Thankful for my BFF, Christi!!
    Christi has been with me through some thick and thin times. Her 3 girls are a blessing to my kids, and her DH and Chris are great pals too. This girl will tell me like it is. I couldn't have asked God for a better companion to storm hell with a water gun with me!


    I'm Thankful for fun family camping trips.
    This past year has been a blast going camping in our new new to us camper. This is a picture of me trying to help break down the first time. I had to hold the canvas up and pull the pole down all at the same time. Needless to say Meme caught this wonderful crazy shot of me.


    I'm Thankful for girl's night out.
    With Rosey Posey turning 11 this year and entering that tween stage, I am trying more and more to give her the needed undivided attention and make sure our relationship remains strong through the years. One of the ways we do that is girl's night out. This picture is from a night out with Meme to The Melting Pot.


    I'm Thankful for the tree that fell gently on our house.
    I know this sounds like a strange thing to be thankful for, but I can not figure out for the life of me why it didn't CRASH through the house. It was like it just gently laid down on the roof. I think the only damage to the house was about 5 messed up shingles. Praise God!


    I'm Thankful for my kid's BFFs.
    In this age of bullying and peer pressure, I'm so grateful that both of my older kids have BFFs that are from Christian homes and are good influences on my kids.



    I'm Thankful for a successful consignment sale season.
    Twice a year I load everything up in the car that I can and sell it to buy the next seasons clothes. This year was particularly nice and profitable!


    I'm Thankful for kids I can be silly with.
    I know that one day, each of my kids will be 'too old' to hang out with mom. Until that time, I'm going to goof off and go crazy as often as I can.



    I'm Thankful for Papaw coaching Bubee's first season of baseball.
    Let's face it: Coaching 4 year old boys in baseball is harder than herding cats. For that, I am so grateful Papaw was willing to step into the roll of coach to make sure Bubee had a great first year.


    I'm Thankful for God keeping the car from hydroplaning into another car.
    This past summer, the kids and I were caught in a freak rain shower that quickly flooded the road. We ended up hydroplaning into the curb on a turn (I was going 20 MPH when we hit the curb). While the car would not move, everyone was at least safe and sound.


    I'm Thankful for celebrating Little Lady's 1st birthday.
    What's not to love about this? Cute baby + cake = Awwww!



    I'm Thankful for the tornadoes avoiding our house.
    In June of this past year our local area got hit by a string of EF0-EF2 tornadoes. Praise God there were no deaths and only a few houses had damage. Bubee hid in our tub with Meme's dog during the storms. The scariest thing I saw was this over turned port-a-potty (I'm glad I didn't have to clean that up). :P


    I'm Thankful for cow appreciation day at Chick-fil-a
    My family LOVES Chick-fil-a. So every year the whole family dresses up and gets yummy food for FREE!! This was Little Lady's first year, and I think she made a very cute cow.


    I'm Thankful for extended family I can laugh with.
    My in-laws are amazing! I think this picture was taken when one of my SIL, Emily (L), made a comment about Bubee's  snake she's holding. Felicia (R) will officially be my SIL this July, but I think she already fits in pretty well. ;)


    I'm Thankful for lots of Santa and Mrs. Claus friends.
    If you didn't already know, I am a booking agent for Santa Claus. So all through the year we get to meet up with all of our Santa friends. It's always such a jolly time.


    I'm Thankful for an adventurous family
    This is a picture of my brother, Joseph, chowing down on a turkey leg at our local renaissance fair. My family is always ready for that next big adventure or trip. Guess that's why I try to keep a bucket list each season.




    Comment below and tell me what you are thankful for this year.

    Wednesday, November 27, 2013

    Holiday Bucket List 2013

    The Christmas season is almost upon us. I am a traditionalist in that we do not put up decor or listen to Christmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving, however, I do like to have my bucket list ready the night of Thanksgiving.

    Our family has 5 lists every year: Winter, Spring, Summer,  Fall and Holiday. Our Holiday list includes Christmas and New Years, and allows us to save some activities for the slow and quiet winter.

    I'm please to 'unveil' this year's Holiday Bucket list:




    Have a family movie night
    Go on a Christmas lights "Tour"
    Buy Christmas gifts for a family in need
    Take pictures w/ Santa
    Bake cookies for Fire Department
    Make some homemade ornaments
    Send a Christmas card to a soldier
    Game night by the Christmas tree
    Make a new Christmas decoration
    Go Black Friday shopping
    Make jar mix gifts for out of state family
    Go to Bethlehem Walk
    Make a gingerbread village
    See a play
    Make a homemade gift
    Try a new hot chocolate flavor
    Play games till the New Year
    Eat black-eyes peas and greens on New Years Day

    Tuesday, November 26, 2013

    Free Black Friday Shopping List Printable


    One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is to plan our Black Friday shopping trip with my Sister-in-laws.  We get a Thursday paper with all the ads then spend an house or so after dinner making our game plan. Thanks to internet you can now plan even further ahead. One of my favorite Black Friday sites is TGI Black Friday. Not only can you search ads, but you can also search for certain products to make sure you're getting the best deal. The also have an app (iPhone, iPad, and Android) that I use every BF while I'm out shopping. LOVE IT!! To help you get the most bang for your buck and keep you organized this year, I've made some Black Friday shopping list printable. This is the basic format I use every year to plan our escapades! Enjoy!




    Like this idea? Pin it!!



    Monday, November 25, 2013

    12 Leftover Turkey Recipes

    This coming Thursday has been called "Turkey Day" by many. But what about Friday? What will you do with the left over turkey? I have gathered some of my favorite Turkey leftover recipes from years past to share with you here.
     

    Our family has such a large gathering for Thanksgiving that my MIL fixes 3-5 birds each year. It has become a family tradition that each of the married girls gets a carcase and left overs to take home. Each of these recipes are ones my family has tried and loved. They have also received great reviews on AllRecipes.com.





    I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving and a Yummy post-Turkey Day!


    Like this idea? Pin it!!


    The above post(s) may contain affiliated links, product placements, etc. This is how I can afford to buy the supplies to bring you new activites. Thanks for your support!
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