Bring That Special Christmas Joy To Your Loved Ones

For years now, The Mommies Network has provided an easy way to bring special Christmas joy to the children in your life with letters from Santa himself. This year we've partnered with Top Santa Letters to make it better than ever!

With help from Top Santa Letters we are able to offer more personalization, more letters, and add on gifts and prizes! And because the elves at The Mommies Network don’t have to print, ship, and repost those letters, you know yours will arrive in about 4 days- direct from the North Pole.

Here are just some of the things you can expect from your Mommies Network exclusive letter packages: -FREE and fast shipping -Full editing capability to make a truly unique letter. -Order for more than one child in a single transaction. -Stickers, activity pages and more!

Ordering your Santa letters from Top Santa Letters through The Mommies Network allows us to raise funds that maintain our sites across the country and support moms daily both online & offline. Great products for a great cause! Get on Santa’s Nice List and order today.

Black Friday 2013 is here! No Waiting

   
This post does contain affiliate links 

I don't know about your area of the country, but here in North Carolina it is going to be a cool, I mean cold as a well diggers butt cold-- 20 some degrees tonight. This girl is not going out to the shopping madness in the cold to fight somebody over a TV. I am gonna sit right here on my hiney and shop online. Amazon is my favorite online shopping spot, and they have some fantastic deals right now.

 Black Friday 2013 is here! You won't have to wait until midnight or stand in a long line to get the best Black Friday deals because you can get them right here, right now. Amazon has been searching for the best Black Friday deals everywhere--including deals other stores have--so they can bring them to you even earlier. These limited-supply deals will go quickly, but they will add new ones now through Black Friday, so you can skip the long lines and still save a bundle.

Wow, just scanning thru the Black Friday page (click here) I see so much I want to buy, 40%, 50%, 60% and even 70% off. With my Amazon Prime membership the shipping will be free too!! Can't beat that! 

 Happy Savings and Shopping Day (or night)

Have A Blessed Thanksgiving!

From our house to yours we wish you a safe and blessed Thanksgiving Day. Count your blessings, no matter how small, and praise our Father above for all the goodness he bestows upon us daily.

Happy Thanksgiving

How To Cook A Turkey 101 & Thanksgiving Gift Card Giveaway

 I think all Moms love to save money on holiday meals, I know I do. Feels like the holidays are always so stressful financially around here.
Here is a Thanksgiving Gift card Giveaway that is so easy to enter via Whole Mom. I love this site it is full of giveaways, funny stuff and interesting news that moms like me crave somedays.
Just click the photo banner and "like" the WholeMom Facebook page, enter to win $150 for your holiday meal. Easy Peasy Pumpkin Pie!
Now grab a bottle of your favorite wine and let me show you how to cook that bird......lol

Love it, thats what happens when momma cooks the turkey all by herself without any help, lessons learned it guess....lol

Remember to enter to win your chance at the gift card and check out all the other cool giveaways posted on the Whole Mom website.

Enjoy these savings at the grocery store:

Homemade Fluffy Marshmallows

photo credit Healthy Green Kitchen

Recipe Credit to The Smitten Kitchen 

Springy, Fluffy Marshmallows 

Adapted from Gourmet, December 1998

These homemade marshmallows are not only easy to make, they set as perfectly as promised: puffed and lightweight, bouncing off one another as I tossed them in the container. Even better, they toasted like a campfire charm speared on the end of a skewer, and s’mooshed between two graham crackers with a square of chocolate.

Makes about 96 1-inch cubed marshmallows

About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar (cane sugar worked just fine)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla (alternately: 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean, 2 teaspoons almond or mint extract or maybe even some food coloring for tinting)

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. (Some reviewers felt this took even longer with a hand mixer, but still eventually whipped up nicely.)

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out (learning from my mess of a first round). Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top.

Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) 

Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

Do ahead: Marshmallows keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature 1 week.

Enjoy in that hot cocoa....yummy or make some smores and have a family night around the firepit (our favorite)

Choose Your Gift Card Giveaway #bloggeropp

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One lucky reader will choose their own Gift Card of choice! (Target, Walmart, Amazon, Khol's, Old Navy or Toys R Us)

Amount right now is $25! All money collected will go toward prize!

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Sign Up HERE

 

 

 

Tuesday Tips: Fill Your Home With The Smells Of The Holidays

It smells like the holidays are around the corner, love this recipe for filling our house with the sweet scents of the season.
Mix these ingredients, place on the stove and boil, adding more water as needed. Turn on some Christmas music and you are ready to decorate or wrap presents.
Enjoy!

Love is a reminder

Love is not just words on paper... Love is real, feel it, live it, share it.......

God is Love, in this season of Thanksgiving teach others the meaning of Love by simply showing them love and kindness.

 

 

Happy Halloween~~

 Today is Halloween and the excitement is here at our house, even though my kids are getting older they still love to dress up and go out on Halloween night, round up all the candy they can and come home with gooey sticky teeth. I will have to admit that this mom loves it too.
I also love these Peanuts pics, one of my all time favorites for holiday viewing, they are just timeless.

Top Pet Safety Tips This Halloween : Learn With Us

Great information from PetMD.com :

Halloween can be a festive and fun time for children and families. But for pets? Let's face it, it can be a downright nightmare. Forgo the stress and dangers this year by following these 10 easy tips.

1. Trick-or-treat candies are not for pets.

All forms of chocolate -- especially baking or dark chocolate -- can be dangerous, even lethal, for dogs and cats. Symptoms of chocolate poisoning may include vomiting, diarrhea, rapid breathing, increased heart rate, and seizures. Halloween candies containing the artificial sweetener xylitol can also be poisonous to dogs. Even small amounts of xylitol can cause a sudden drop in blood sugar and subsequent loss of coordination and seizures. And while xylitol toxicity in cats has yet to be established, it's better to be safe than sorry.

2. Don't leave pets out in the yard on Halloween.

Surprisingly, vicious pranksters have been known to tease, injure, steal, and even kill pets on Halloween night. Inexcusable? Yes! But preventable nonetheless.

3. Keep pets confined and away from the door.

Not only will your door be constantly opening and closing on Halloween, but strangers will be dressed in unusual costumes and yelling loudly for their candy. This, of course, is scary for our furry friends. Dogs are especially territorial and may become anxious and growl at innocent trick-or-treaters. Putting your dog or cat in a secure room away from the front door will also prevent them from darting outside into the night … a night when no one wants to be searching for a lost loved one.

4. Keep your outdoor cats inside several days before and several days after Halloween.

Black cats are especially at risk from pranks or other cruelty-related incidents. In fact, many shelters do not adopt out black cats during the month of October as a safety precaution.

5. Keep Halloween plants such as pumpkins and corn out of reach.

Although they are relatively nontoxic, such plants can induce gastrointestinal upset should your pets ingest them in large quantities. Intestinal blockage can even occur if large pieces are swallowed. And speaking of pumpkins …

6. Don't keep lit pumpkins around pets.

Should they get too close, they run the risk of burning themselves or knocking it over and causing a fire.

7. Keep wires and electric light cords out of reach.

If chewed, your pet could cut himself or herself on shards of glass or plastic, or receive a possibly life-threatening electrical shock.

8. Don't dress your pet in a costume unless you know they'll love it.

If you do decide that Fido or Kitty needs a costume, make sure it isn't annoying or unsafe. It should not constrict movement, hearing, or the ability to breathe or bark and meow.

9. Try on pet costumes before the big night.

If they seem distressed, allergic, or show abnormal behavior, consider letting them go in their “birthday suit”. Festive bandanas usually work for party poopers, too.

10. IDs, please!

If your dog or cat should escape and become lost, having the proper identification will increase the chances that they will be returned. Just make sure the information is up-to-date, even if your pet does have one of those fancy-schmancy embedded microchips.

 

We love our furbabies and wanted to learn more about taking care of them at Halloween, thank you for learning too!

 

 

The American Kitchen: What's Inside Yours?

For many households in America the kitchen is the hub of the family. What is inside your kitchen usually depends on your taste in food and decor. My kitchen is crawling with chickens and roosters, because of my love for the feathered art of "chickeness" lol.
No matter what your kitchen is filled with it can be a place of danger or delight. The infographic below is a prime example of both.

Produced by SelfStorage.com. Copyright 2013.

Quote Of The Day: The Family A Dear Octopus

Electric Octopus credit Tammy Wetzel

Today's quote may ring true to many of you out there. Is your family like an octopus with those tentacles reaching out and touching you always. Sometimes you may like the idea of being touched ever so gently all the time if you have a loving nurturing family. Many are not blessed with caring families, but interfering and overbearing ones that keep you from growing or flourishing in your life.

I feel blessed to have a family that is heartfelt, treasuring each other for the true person each of us has become. 

Speak Up, Speak Out! Stop This Problem! #worldwidechokinggameawareness

So today is my youngest child's birthday, she is a happy healthy 10 years old today! I am blessed to have happy healthy children, but not immune to the things out there that they could try or get involved in.

Instead of choosing to plaster my social media and blogs today with mushy birth stories, I choose to Speak up and Speak Out today! October 11th is also World Choking Game Awareness Day and for all the parents out there that have lost children to this terrible game, this is for you!

Sharing this again on this blog also, please feel free to share, copy or reblog it.

Today is a day, just like any other say yes? For some maybe for others no! If you have ever lost a child, no day is the same, you wake up with a piece of your heart ripped from you  that just can't be replaced.
No parent wants another parent to ever go thru the heartache of child loss, so today we urge you to wake up and educate yourself on something that 75% of kids already know about. Your kids!
The choking game has many names, it's all over YouTube, the internet, social media and your kids schools.
A high school trend...no, kids as young as 9 are dying everyday. So join us today on Worldwide Choking Game Awareness Day 2013 and Speak Up, Speak out, speak to Your kids today!

We don't want to add another statistic to our list......

Happy birthday Sarah, she asks you to tell your kids about the dangers of the choking game!