Blogiversary Giveaway-Time's Up!

363 days of blogging. 298 posts. Man, I talk a lot! To celebrate this milestone, I am having a giveaway of some of my favorite things! Here's what's up for grabs:

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

We have two of my favorite books by two of my favorite authors...Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen and Mercy by Jodi Picoult. A DVD of Madagascar because I like to move it, move it. A John Deere tote, a $2 dollar bill for good luck (or that's what I've been told anyway) a Tide-Stick To Go, a bag of the best.chocolate.ever. We also have a Pocket Pac hand sanitizer in one of my favorite scents, Midnight Pomegranate, a bottle of Dancing Waters lotion, a bottle of Moonlight Path body cream, a Starbucks to-go cup, and last but not least, a $10 Starbucks gift card. Phew! That was a lot of stuff crammed in that little bag!

You know you want it all, right?! Here's how to win:

1. Leave a comment. Easy, right?

2. Follow me, if you so choose, for one more entry. Please leave a separate comment telling me you either already follow me...or another comment after you choose to follow. I guess in reality you could un-follow me once the contest is over, but that would just be mean.

3. If you want to post about the giveaway, have at it! Then leave another comment letting me know you did.

Contest closes at midnight on January 4th. Winner will be announced on January 5th. (That will give me something to look forward to as I go back to school!)

AND if that's not enough for you, my IRLBFF over at Finding Normal is having her own blogiversary giveaway! And because I copied most of her post regarding rules and dates...it will be easy to enter!

Recap

Christmas came and went as quickly as ever. There were presents galore.

Little Miss was THRILLED with every gift she received. Her favorites? Puzzles, sticker books, and Barbies.

Please note that this picture was taken at 7:00 a.m. this morning. Fancy Nancy, indeed.

Cole was thrilled with most of his gifts. The books? Notsomuch.

His favorite gifts? A foam disc shooter, his bicycle, and....oh yeah, TRACTORS!


The kids also got these awesome Fisher-Price digital cameras. They take real pictures that you can upload. They LOVE them. The cameras have 4 buttons and are super easy to use. Obviously, the picture quality isn't great...but the kids love them!

There were gingerbread houses, painting projects, candy and cookies, and Pop Bead creations.

We had a pretty relaxing, stress-free time. Well, the kids and I did. (Except at church.) Daddy isn't quite so used to being home so much. He was giddy to be going to work this morning.

Speaking of church...Daddy stayed home to put the bicycles together. So the kids and I went to 4:30 mass on Christmas Eve. It was PACKED. We got the last possible seats. We even got there an hour early to make sure we got a seat. The kids were pretty good for about an hour but by then mass was JUST starting. It quickly went downhill from there. They were on the floor, standing, sitting, yelling at their friends from across the church...but the funniest moment? All day we had been talking about how we were going to go to church to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Shortly after the music started, Little Miss leaned over and yelled, "When's Jesus gonna get here?!" I am pretty sure she was expecting cake at his "birthday party."

In addition to all the fun things we did together and the family and friends we got to see, I received a few wonderful gifts as well. My favorites?

AND, I took this picture with my NEW CAMERA! Woo hoo! I was in desperate need of a camera. I was down to a loaner from my parents. It was an old camera with like 2.7 Mega Pixels. My new camera? 10! I LOVE it.

And now that Christmas is over and life is returning to normal...it's giveaway time! To celebrate my first blogiversary, I am holding a giveaway of some of my favorite things. Check back tomorrow for your chance to win!

While visions of kibble danced in their heads

Current Thoughts

Shopping is (finally!) finished.

The gifts are wrapped.

It is freezing raining. (Freezing rain? Raining freeze? Freeze raining?)

I bought a new coffee maker and am currently sipping chocolate truffle coffee. Yum.


One of my favorite winter drinks? A mug of hot chocolate with a splash of peppermint schnapps. Top it off with a chocolate covered peppermint stick...so delicious!

Tomorrow we will bake and decorate sugar cookies for Santa.

I bought gingerbread house kits on clearance for $3.00 at Wal-Mart. Wish me luck.

I am really hoping I will win P-Dub's camera.

My sister saw Coolio at a Barnes & Nobles in Hawaii on her honeymoon earlier this week.

You can now walk into my walk-in closet. Well, you can't. But I can. I guess you could if you wanted to. Just stay out of my underwear drawer.

January 1 is my blogiversary. Not really sure how to spell that. My IRL BFF Deb is holding a giveaway to celebrate hers around New Year's Eve. I think I will steal that idea. Stay tuned for pics of the giveaway goodies. And tell your friends.

Speaking of giveaways, if any of you see Tiffany at Alabama Redhead Adventures please tell her I haven't forgotten that she won the "What the H is it?!" contest. I promise her prize will be in the mail soon.

Little Miss is currently under the computer desk in full-on princess garb untying my shoes. Or more likely, tying them together. Now Jose has joined her. Now it's time to dust the house. Remember how I thought I was going to get the entire house cleaned today on my day off? Yeah. Didn't happen. Go figure.

Weekend Update and More

This weekend was rather uneventful. The kids and I did go to Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch on Saturday, then hit the Super Target.

Sunday we went out to breakfast, then the kids and I headed to Grandma and Grandpa's. I ditched the kids for awhile and hit Target yet again...this time buying new DVD players for the car. Let's just say the ride home was very peaceful and fantastic.

We then went to the library for books and movies. I managed to read the first 55 pages of a new-to-me Jennifer Crusie (LOVE her!) book while the kids played nicely with quiet voices. It was wonderful.

When we returned home my husband had been playing Mr. Fix-It. He rewired the garage so the new garage door opener wasn't plugged in via extension cord. He fixed the door to a closet. He replaced 2 light switches in the house that weren't working properly. He cleaned up two cat puke stains with John Deere spot remover. Seriously. It worked great and the house smelled cleaner than it has in a long time. He even took everything out of our "broom closet" and replaced everything in a neat and orderly fashion. To be honest, I wasn't sure I had come into the right house. But then he grabbed my butt and stuck his cold hands up my shirt to reassure me that yes, I was in the right house.

This morning I dropped the kids off at daycare at 6:45. I was at Wal-Mart with a large cup of coffee my 7:00. An hour and $220 later, I was heading home. However, I did learn a valuable lesson.

When it's 7:00 a.m. on a Monday morning and the temperature is 1 degree (yes, you heard me...1 degree) you will be the only person at Wal-Mart besides those blue-shirted employees. And it's so quiet you can almost forget where you are. Almost.

A few things

Today marks the first official day of Christmas vacation and all I have to say is...PHEW! We made it halfway! We were all in need of a break and thankfully it is here. The kids were absolutely nuts yesterday! The only quiet time I experienced was for an hour and 45 minutes thanks to Ron Howard and Jim Carrey.

A sure sign we needed a break? At the end of the day Thursday I asked some trivia questions during the last 2 minutes of the day.

The question was:

In which country are the cities of New Delhi, Bombay (Mumbai), and Calcutta located?

The answer I got from one of my 5th graders?

Wisconsin.

*sigh*

Moving on.

We had a gorgeous sunset the other evening. I managed to snap a couple pics. These were straight out of the camera...no Picniking! Beautiful, right?

Saturday mornings are pretty relaxed around our house. Here is Cole watching cartoons in his jammies at about 7:30. Normal, right?
Here's Little Miss taken at the exact same time. And can I just tell you this is her THIRD outfit of the day? And it is complete with a bra, tights, tap shoes, and 2 purses. Princess, much?

Could someone please warn my husband that I have cramps reminiscent of early labor with my first born? It woke me up at 4:30 this morning. And my Advil was in the car and it was cold outside. And I was too lazy to go get it. It's much easier to sit here and whine to you good people.

I am considering getting dressed and heading to the Big City for a little more shopping and lunch at the Chik-Fil-A. I thought this would be a winning idea with the children. I got nothing but flack. Cole's response, "I don't like that playground. I don't think it's very safe for kids to play on."

Sheesh. Since when is a 5 year old boy supposed to be concerned with safety? If you ask me, he's just a little too "busy" tending to his livestock.

I do have Monday and Tuesday "off" as the kids are going to daycare. I plan on finishing shopping, having a marathon wrapping session, and getting the house cleaned. Really clean...not just picked up. After Tuesday the kids and I will be off until Jan. 4th. So Tuesday is my last chance at a clean house for 2 weeks.

Are you braving the stores this weekend? Any last minute shopping that needs to be done?

Picniking the Day Away

The number of things I should be doing on my unexpected day off is staggering.

The kitchen alone holds 32 different chores waiting to be done. And don't even get me started on the laundry. Then there's the not-so-much-of-a-walk-in closet disaster. Oh, and presents that need wrapped.

And what am I doing?

Playing around with Picnik.

Seriously.

If you haven't used Picnik, you should definitely give it a try. The possibilities are endless. I took a self-portrait right before my husband's surprise 40th birthday party on Friday. (Yes, he's 40! Ack! How did I end up married to an old man?!)

Then I took that picture and went crazy with the Picnik.

This is the pic straight from the camera.

If I were Mrs. Claus in the middle of a snowstorm.

John Deere Mom Smurf.

This is just wrong.

Ah. That's nice. Sepia with vignette.

This is Posterize, although it looks like I am made out of Silly Putty.

Shake it like a Polaroid picture.

This is how I would look if someone did a pencil sketch of me. I really hope no one ever does a pencil sketch of me because this is not a good look.

This is how I might look if I were to break into your house in the middle of the night, if you slipped on your night vision goggles. See how friendly I look, even while breaking into your house?

This is me as a neon sign. *shudder* Those teeth are really creeping me out.

John Deere Mom. I am sure John Deere will be calling any moment to use this pic as their new logo.

This is how I might look after one too many cranberry martinis.

I don't really know what this is supposed to be. I think it's called HDR but I kinda like it. Very artsy. And I might just have to find that lip stick color...

This is me in warp speed. I can run very fast, you know.

This is focal soften. It helps take the focus off your cluttered dining room and onto the subject.
Here's 1960 John Deere Mom. I was very stylish back in the day.

This is what I would look like on an episode of Cops. You know, shortly after I broke into your house.

This is what I look like first thing in the morning. My poor husband.

And finally, the true John Deere Mom comes through. Angelic John Deere Mom. Can't you hear the Hallelujah?