Baking Giveaway winner

Howdy all! I have been working hard all week and this was the first chance I have had to pick a winner. The winner is

Susitravl !!

Congratulation Susi! If you will email me your address I will get your prize pack on its way!

Everything else here is going fine. February came to Dallas Texas with a bang, where we had 5 snow days! We might miss one day of school, but 5? It was nuts to say the least. The day after all the snow and ice hit I was with power for almost seven hours! It got down to 56 in my apartment, so i spent most of that morning in the heaviest sweats i have , buried under the comforter off my bed. On a good note I got caught up on my reading and did lots of crochet:)

Will write more when time permits, hope all is well with everyone in the blogosphere:)

Baking Giveaway!!!

Ok, raise your hand if you are sick of this cold weather, snow and ice! I know my hand is raised high. I live in Dallas Texas, and although we do get occasional bad weather in late January/early february, this has been nuts!! No children in the entire metroplex have been to school since Monday. Our metroplex is covered in ice and we just got snow lastnight. We are not used to getting cabin fever... So what better way to fight 'the fever' then to bake! This is a giveaway from My BlogSpark, Betty Crocker and Glad! Gladware Food Storage Containers. They sent me a fun prize pack which has a 1 pound pouch of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix, a 3pk of Gladware Deep Dish Food Storage Containers and a $25 giftcard to Safeway Food Stores (including Randalls and Tom Thumb). They also gave me one to give away! First of all, please visit BakeSweetMemories.com and browse all the delicious yumminess. Then come back here and tell me in the comment section which recipe you would like to try. This is mandatory if you want a chance at the giveaway! One additional entry for each of the following : - following this blog - my friend on Facebook This contest will run for one week only , ending on Friday February 11,2011 @ Midnight (CST) Good Luck!!!!

Happy New Year!

Hoping everyone had a safe and wonderful beginning to 2011. I spent the day with Nicole then went home late and went to bed, not seeing Midnight at all,lol. I got some fun stuff for Christmas,including 3 books, which is always a good bet with me. The biggest and best present Nicole got was an IPOD touch, which turned out to be pretty much her only present! I am going to be having another contest pretty soon, so stay tuned, be safe and parents enjoy back-to-school week. Nicole went back today and wasn't real thrilled about it, but she will get over it.

Winner of Movie Cash

Ooopsie! I am a bit late in posting the winner of the movie cash contest. I had only two people enter, but with 7 comments I still put them in a bowl and picked. The winner is Hot chica In Me!! Congratulations! Please email me your address so I can get your movie cash on the way!!!

Free Movie Cash!! Enter Here!

*In the interest of full disclosure I did not receive any monetary compensation from My Blog Spark and General Mills. *

Howdy to all there out in the blogosphere! I know I haven't been around in a while, so to make up for it, I am hosting a contest through My Blog Spark and General Mills.

Here is the information:

Starting in November, you can receive a free movie ticket when you purchase two specially marked packages of Big G cereals including Honey Nut Cheerios® (17 oz.), Cinnamon Toast Crunch® (17 oz.), Lucky Charms® (16 oz.), Trix® (14.8 oz) and Reese’s Puffs® cereal (18 oz.).

After purchasing two participating cereals, visit generalmills.com/moviecash to enter the unique code found inside each box of cereal and print your free Movie Cash certificate (good for one admission of up to a $12 value at participating theatres). To find a participating theater in your area, log ontohttp://emoviecash.com/dis_locator/.

If you win, you will receive TWO boxes of General Mills cereal and FOUR free Movie Cash! Sounds like a great deal huh? All you have to do to win is

( Please leave separate comment for each entry)

MANDATORY ENTRY - How do you spend family movie night?? do you go out? bake pizza? make popcorn? Let me know!!

Additional Entries ( Good for one each):

1 - what is your favorite General Mills Cereal?

2 - friend me on Facebook

3 - follow my blog

This contest will run for one week , through Friday , December 10th at Midnight ( CST)

GOOD Luck!!

Korie

Hi everyone! It's time once again for Mama Kat's Writers Workshop!

If you don't know what this is , please go check it out. Once a week she will put up 5 prompts to get your brain in gear, then you chose one of those, write your post and link it up on Thursday morning!

You get new visitors to your blog and you in turn get to read some new posts and find blogs you may not have known about! FUN FOR ALL INVOLVED:))

Out of this weeks prompts I chose number 4 -

Write about my pets least likable trait.

Thats easy. I currently have four pets. One bird and three dogs. Most of them are mild mannered and don't give us too much grief. With one exception - Korie.

Korie is our biggest dog. We got her when she was just about 6 weeks old. Our next door neighbor has a Yellow Lab who had 8 puppies. They weren't sure who the daddy dog was because all the puppies came out black or gray, lol.

She was destined to be our daughters dog. She said she loved the other dogs in the family but they weren't 'hers'. So she picked out this particular puppy ( who at one time was running around the porch with her head stuck in a dog food can!), named her Korie and in started our waking up every three to four hours to let her out and feed her.

Just like we had had another baby. She let the entire house know she had to go potty or was hungry for her puppy milk.

I guess my daughter thought she would stay the cute little puppy that she was. Looking at the mother dog she should have gotten some clue that she wouldn't.

My daughter took her everywhere , did fun stuff with her, and cleaned up after her. It was a real love connection.

But the dog grew. And grew, and then grew some more.

She is now a 54 -lb , one year old Borador. ( We figured out the daddy was a Border Collie a few doors down...)

She is sweet and lovable to us, but watch out visitors. We took her to obedience classes and those work for her not going after food, and sitting on command and all that jazz, but I guess the protectiveness and the aggression of the Border Collie overtakes her and she will try to go after anyone that visits our house. It is sad really when Nicole has a friend spend the night that they can't play with her dog - she is usually banned to the backyard.

The trainer says it is the Border Collie tendencies coupled with the loyalty of the Labrador that kind of went haywire with her.

She is a very cute, sweet, big , lovable mound of black fur, but sometimes that loyalty gets a little skewed and she shows her ugly side. To the four of us that live in the house she is wonderful, but please let us know in advance if you plan to visit, because we will have to put Cujo, ( Whoops , I meant Korie) outside.

( I was trying to post some pictures of this lovable baby ox, but either my computer or Blogger is not cooperating.) SORRY!

Where in the World.....

did they get this idea from?

Now I'll say this - I am proud of my breasts, but never, ever EVER under ANY circumstances would I go out in public like this - even if it were to honor dear old Mickey Mouse -

Now I'm not trying to offend anyone - especially all you Mickey Mouse lovers out there, but I had to share. If you know me, you'd know that when I received this e-mail I laughed my but off! So go head and laugh!

Obviously these two were really proud of their boobs!

The Winner of the Totino's Giveaway

Wow! I had 20 entries into my latest giveaway for General Mills and Totino's Box Tops for Education through My Blog Spark.

The winner hand picked by my lovely daughter Nicole is:

lmurley 2000!!!!!

Congratulations! I will be notifying you by e-mail as well. Please have your address to me ASAP so I can get your prize pack in the mail!

Thank you to all who entered! Hope to see you entered in my next giveaway!

Writer's Workshop

Woohoo! It's time for another episode of Writer's Workshop prompted by Mama Kat. Basically you choose one of the weekly writing prompts she suggests, write your post, then link it up Thursday morning and wait for feedback!

This week she had several really good suggestions, and I liked this one - thought it would be an easy post to write - so here goes... I chose

3.) Write about what blogging means to you. Why do you blog? What purpose does it serve you and how have you benefited from sharing a piece of yourself online this way?

Hmm. How to answer that. Well, lets see. I originally started blogging about two years ago at the request of my friend Lena. I had moved away from her and so we didn't get to see much of each other so she suggested I start blogging so that we could stay in touch.

It sounded kind of fun. I always read her blog and started to get some ideas. The day I did my first post I (foolishly) thought only Lena would see it. I was shocked when I started getting comments from people that I didn't know! All of them were nice comments, welcoming me and such. So I started reading other blogs, and soon was following several and still am to this day.

I've made real life friends through the blogosphere. There are others that I talk to via Facebook and blogger but have yet to meet in person , but SO WANT TO!

The people I have met through the blogosphere have

- inspired me

- sympathized with me

- made me laugh

- made me cry

- made me go " um, wth were you thinking?"

I think you get the idea.

Some ask why I do it. I consider myself a people person. I love to meet new people. I love to hear about what others are writing, thinking, watching, or listening too. I love to talk to and hear from others who share my interests. Unfortunately I don't blog as much as I used to because I'm not home as much , but I still like posting and reading my friends posts. I may not always leave a comment, but I try to!

I don't ever worry about talking about myself via this blog - yes I share stories, but I don't give such personal details that it is dangerous or TMI!

I like it, I'll keep doing it, and I hope you'll join me in my adventures - some new ones may be happening soon!

Till then...

Back to School with Totinos!

* In the full interest of disclosure, I was provided a backpack with school supplies and coupons for FREE Totino's products through General Mills and My Blog Spark. I was given no other compensation*

Wow! Here, Nicole is entering her 4th week of school! It is so hard to believe that another school year has begun.

This fall, Totino’s is helping to support your child’s school. Totino’s Party Pizzas will now carry Box Tops for Education! Now through September 15, Totino’s is offering two Box Tops for Education on every Totino’s product. Totino’s is also giving away 10,000 Bonus Box Tops, school supplies and free Totino’s snacks to eight lucky schools through the “Make School a Better Place Sweepstakes!” To enter, visit
http://www.boxtops4education.com/Sweepstakes.aspx/Totino-s--and-Avery--Making-School-A-Better-Place/304w.

Doesn't that sound great? I know that after school Nicole likes Totinos party snacks ( the pepperoni are her favorite) and the party pizzas on Family Movie

Night.

So wouldn't you like to buy a snack that your kids love AND help out their school at the same time? To get you and your child off to a great start collecting those box tops I've been given an extra Prize Pack through General Mills and My Blog Spark!

I am unable to provide you a picture of the prize pack at this time due to my camera being weird, however, I will tell you all that you will receive:

* a backpack

* a 4-pk of highlighters

* two large glue sticks

* a clear binder

* a calculator

* two coupons for FREE Totinos products

* a certificate for 25 EXTRA Box Tops!!!

Now to win all of that heres what you must do:

MANDATORY ENTRY - Tell me the funniest thing that happened trying to get your kids back to school the first day , or maybe the few days before while you were trying to get them back on a schedule.

( the following are good for 1 extra entry each, and must be left in a seperate comment)

* be a follower of this blog

* if you follow me on FB

Good luck to all who enter. This contest will run through Wednesday, September 15, 2010. It will end at Midnight (CST) on that date.

Yoplait Giveaway Winner

The Yoplait "Keeping Cool in School" giveaway that I hosted last week ended this past Sunday at Midnight. Had a really busy day yesterday so finally got down to sorting out entries and picking a winner:

Congratulations to Ashley!

I need you to email me your information so that I can get your prize pack on its way!

I will be hosting another giveaway for fun stuff soon, so stay tuned!

It's Hotter Than A...

Finish the sentence anyway you want !


Here in Dallas ,Texas we are suffering through the third straight week of triple digit temps. You break a sweat going from the house to your car. You take the dog for a potty walk and pray that they make it a fast one.


You would like to walk around naked, but that wouldn't help and NO ONE would like to see that.


I received this via e-mail the other day and I think it is an accurate description of just how hot it is here...

Back to School Giveaway!

* In the interest of full disclosure I was provided a Keeping Cool in School gift pack and a coupon for a free Yoplait product through Yoplait and My Blog Spark. I received no other compensation.*

Wow! It's that time already! Nicole starts back to school this coming Monday the 16th. We had her orientation yesterday, where we found out who her teacher will be. She didn't get the one she wanted but the one she got seems nice.

I always have a problem with what to put in Nicoles lunches for school. Very rarely does she want to eat school food and I really can't blame her there... but she is a pretty picky eater. One thing she does like is the Yoplait GoGurts. If she eats nothing else I pack for her, I can usually count on her at least eating the yogurt.

If you have never tried the Yoplait Gogurts , they are really good for school lunches. They can be eaten soft like regular yogurt, or as a frozen treat! It won't hurt to buy this and then put them in the freezer till you are ready to have a nice cool treat. They come in cool flavors that kids love too, such as Strawberry Splash and Chill-out Cherry.

So, when asked if I wanted to participate in this My Blog Spark giveaway I agreed! I received a coupon for a free Yoplait yogurt product, along with a Keeping Cool in School prize pack.

The prize pack includes an insulated lunch tote, a sandwich container, two pencils, a flexible calculator, a flower highlighter with 5 colors, a water bottle, and a fan pen ( which might come in handy here in the 100 degree Texas heat when she is going from class to class! lol).

Yoplait and My Blog Spark were nice enough to give me an extra prize pack to give away to one lucky reader! It will contain all of the above items, plus the coupon for a free Yoplait yogurt product.

1-The mandatory entry is to tell me how you handle school lunches. Do you let your kids pack their own? Do you pack them a nice nutritious lunch and hope they don't trade it? If so, what kinds of things do you pack? This might help some of us who are challenged with coming up with new ideas that our kids will eat.

The following are good for one entry each. ( Please leave a seperate comment for each! )

* Follow this blog

* Friends on Facebook

This contest will end at Midnight CST, Sunday , August 15.

Good luck and DON'T FORGET THE YOGURT!

Catch- up with Pictures

YAY!!! I'm finally able to get pictures off of my phone again! Nicole found the blue tooth key that links computer to phone!

So, here is a ton of pics that I have wanted to share with you for a while!

ENJOY:))

Here is Nicole and her favorite teacher Mrs. White on the last day of school. She was Nicole's homeroom teacher as well as her science teacher.

This is Nicole with the rest of her Battle of the Books team. They made it through the first two elimination rounds, but got beat on the third. They had to read 10 books each for this competition. They did a great job!

One of the many sets of baby booties and a hat I made last school year. Several teachers had babies. This was for a baby girl.

This is a baby blanket I made for a baby girl. It turned out really pretty.

This was another baby girl blanket I did in more traditional colors. This one actually went to Michelle of My Two Army Brats for her new baby Mackinley.

We got a ton of snow dumped on us in late January. This was Nicole all bundled up while we played outside a bit.

Korie romping through the snow - she loved it!

This pic was from when Nicole's school went to greet the troops at the airport the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

Patriotic Nicole at the airport waiting to greet the troops

This picture is from my younger cousins graduation party. Mollie, on the left, will be leaving this coming Friday to go to the University of Arkansas at Monticello. On the other side of Nicole is her other cousin Kimberly, who is a sophmore this year!

This was Korie on the day of her graduation from obedience school. See the little graduation cap next to her? We tried desperately to get her to wear it, but it was a no go.

Well, I hope you enjoyed those! I've held on to them hoping I could show them off soon! I can finally delete them from my phone now that I have them on the computer.

Will write more tomorrow, hope everyone has a great day!

WINNER - Penguins of Madagascar DVD

Howdy to all out there in bloggy land:) I was planning on having this drawing this morning, but as always real life interfered a bit.

I printed out each comment that was left as an entry to this contest and Nicole drew the winner, which is...

PIXIE 13

Congratulations! If you would please e-mail me your address so I can send you your Penguins of Madagascar gift pack, I will get that right out!

Have fun, and I should have a back to school give away here pretty soon!

Happy summer!

Volleyball Camp Fun

Nicole came to my moms last Tuesday to spend the last few weeks with us before she goes back to school. The first night she was here, she went with my cousin Julie and her oldest daughter Mollie to watch Mollie work some Volleyball games that evening. She stayed on the court with Mollie for a bit, but then decided she didn't like the balls coming at her that fast, so she switched to working in the concession stand. She wound up having a great time, so Julie asked her if she wanted to attend the Volleyball camp there for the next five weeks. She decided it sounded like fun.


This past Friday night was her first time. She had played a bit of V-Ball at her school in gym, but that is nothing compared to how these girls play. They had placed her with the younger kids because she hadn't played much, so she learned how to serve and volley. She worked muscles she didn't even know she had, so she was a bit sore, but still had a lot of fun.


She can't play any sports at her school until 7th grade, but she says she likes volleyball and she wants to try it some more :) The camp is the next 4 Fridays. The next two won't be bad, but since she starts back to school on the 16th, we will have to see. We will try our hardest to get her here.


Here is the picture of her that I took when she was ready to get on the court

Isn't she getting big? She is so pretty, smart , and funny. (but shhhh, I may be just a bit prejudice)

And speaking of Volleyball, Mollie was awarded a full athletic scholarship to the University of Arkansas at Monticello. She will be a Cotton Blossom::)) She leaves for college on the 13th, so only 11 days away! ARGH!

Last Wednesday my aunt and uncle had a cookout. After all the good food was done with, Kimberly, Nicole, my mom and my aunt sat down to play Scrabble and Julie and I got into a Wii match. She kicked my butt in bowling and tennis, but then I wiped the floor with her while boxing:) Told her it was the first time ever that I'd kicked her butt. We had a lot of laughs over that for sure. ( not counting the time we were little and I beat her over the head with a Barbie doll!) I know in the past we had some problems, mainly stemming from miscommunication, but we have worked all that out.

Well, that is about enough for today. I will announce the winner of my Penguins of Madagascar DVD review tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great week:)

Revisiting the 80's

* If you haven't yet entered my Penguins of Madagascar DVD giveaway, click here! The contest will run through Wednesday*


Who would want to revisit the 80's you ask? Well I still like some of the music from then, and I did most of my growing up in the 80s, graduated highschool in '89, so I kind of like the 80s. Saturday I was on my way back to my moms and I sooo wanted to do something fun, but had no clue what to do.

I tried calling a few friends, but no one was home and just when I was about to give up for the evening I got a text from my friend Nancy inviting me to a bar for an old acquaintaces bday party. 80's style. The bar where it was , was having an 80's night , and they had even made drinks to help us remember those times. One was the Boy George ( which I was told was fruity!), and the other was the Madonna. I did one shot of the Madonna and it was GOOD!

Those who know me know I don't drink, but I had to try the Madonna shot because it sounded delish - it was cranberry juice, vodka and peach schnapps! YUM!

There were several people that came dressed up like they were stuck back in the 80's and we had soo much fun. There were several dressed as Madonna, a few from the group Poison, one or two that looked like the lead singer from Ratt, and many others. The bartender was even dressed like a contestant from the Nickolodean show Double Dare!

There was a lot of karaoke going on, and in between those songs, they played nothing but 80's music. We were waiting for someone to show up in parachute pants, but unfortunately no one did.

Nicole starts back to school in 3 weeks so this past weekend, while I was at the house Chris and I took her school shopping. We still have to get a few things, but for the most part she is set.

I have to go get ready for my day, will write more later! Hope eveyone has a great week:)

Penguins of Madagascar DVD Giveaway

*In the interest of full disclosure, I was provided with one box of Trix cereal, two penguin launchers and a Penguins of Madagascar DVD from General Mills, Nickelodean and My Blog Spark. I received no other compensation.*


Hi everyone! The other day while I was at home I received a package from My Blog Spark, who had teamed up with Nickelodean and General Mills to help launch the premiere Penguins of Madagascar DVD. Included with that were two penguin launchers, and a box of Trix cereal.
Even though Nicole is almost twelve, she had fun with the penguin launchers , while eating the cereal! She even found another launcher in the box of cereal, so now she has three, lol.
Since she is still enjoying her summer vacation, she was able to pop the DVD in too, which she enjoyed.

Currrently, inside specially marked boxes of General Mills cereals, you’ll “commence operations” with one of five characters from The Penguins of Madagascar; Skipper, Rico, Kowalski, Private or King Julien. Each participating cereal contains one character launcher with mission details outlined on the back of the box including:
Dive In, Soldier – Set an empty plastic cereal bowl on the table and try to pop your launcher into it. Wear a helmet or you’ll be squid bait.
Longest Propulsion Launcher – Challenge your troops to see who can launch their character the furthest. Go long or go back to the zoo.
Target Practice – Create a landing zone with a spoon and try to strategically drop your character into the sweet spot. Hit the target or go back to the drawing board.
Clear the Wall – Do you have enough projectile pop to push your launcher over the top of the box? Proceed launchin’ troops, earn those wings!

I also have another box of goodies to give away to one lucky reader! You will receive a box of Trix Cereal, penguin launchers and the Penguins of Madagascar DVD, which includes tons of fun extras, including a Rockin' music Video and sneakpeaks from Dreamworks Secret Headquarters!
It is a perfect way for your kids to spend a summer morning!

Mandatory Entry - tell me what your kids like to do during the summer in the mornings. Do they love to sleep in? do they pop out of bed ready for adventure?

( Please leave seperate comments for each entry!)

The following are good for one addition entry each

* if you follow my blog
* if you are my friend on Facebook

The contest will run today, through Midnight ( CST), Wednesday July 28th.

Howdy!

Wow, time is flying by way too fast. The school that Nicole attends goes back on August 16! So we are on the countdown for school supplies and uniforms. Hopefully my private life will be back on track by that time!

Nicole and I went to see Eclipse today and had a great time. Loved it by the way. Can't wait till Breaking Dawn comes out now. Also saw today on the previews that the last in the Harry Potter series will be coming out in two parts. The first one this coming November, the second in June of 2011. When I questioned this out loud, Nicole simply asked me if I wanted to sit through a 5 hr movie?

Ok, she has a good point, lol. My butt would go to sleep if I sat in a movie seat that long.

My mom and I didn't do much on the 4th, but we did eat hot dogs and watch a lot of good movies.

I hope everyone else had a great holiday week.

And PLEASE forgive me. I never did announce the winner of my $30 Kroger Gift Cards from My Blog Spark, General Mills and Kroger Food stores -

It is Christi, of Rant, Rave and Roll. congratulations, and I hope you try some new healthy General Mills products and have fun while eating healthy!

Hope to post again soon.

Too Early and Too HOT!

It is too early in summer to be this HOT! We are already reaching temps with a heat index of 101-105! YUCK! Just to take my moms dog for a quick walk we come back way too hot. If I want to workout, I either do it here in the house, or go to the gym here on site. I would love to get out and walk in the fresh air, but again too freaking hot.

Nicole has been here at my moms also, for the past two weeks. We have kept busy. We went to the movies, and my mom and I took her ice skating, but she was happiest because there are three pools here.

I was back at home on Wednesday, and when I was on my way back here to my moms, Yvette ( mother of Nicoles BFF Carson) called me to see when Nicole was coming back home since Carson wanted to see her. I talked to her and we decided she would bring Carson over to my moms the next morning so they could spend the day together. She wound up spending the night and they had so much fun. A couple of hours at the pool and they were pooped. Added to that, chicken for lunch, along with the peanut butter cup cookies we made and they were out by 11pm. Usually when the two of them are together they don't go to sleep much before 2 or 3 in the morning!

When we finally got them up around 830 the next morning I made Crepes and sausage for them and her dad came to get her. My mom, Nicole and I watched movies the rest of the day where we stayed cool.

Today we will round up Nicoles stuff and wrap Chris' Fathers Day presents. He will be coming here tomorrow to celebrate and we will make him lunch and go swimming, and then he is taking Nicole back home with him.

All in all it has been a good week. Hope everyone has had a good week as well.

Will write more later!